Ezekiel 19
1 Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
[Yahweh said to me, “Ezekiel], sing a sad funeral [a which will be a parable] [two of the] kings of Israel.
2 and say: How was thy mother a lioness; among lions she couched, in the midst of the young lions she reared her whelps!
Say [to the Israeli people], ‘[It is as though] [MET] your mother was a brave female lion who raised her cubs among [other] lions.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps, he became a young lion; and he learned to catch the prey, he devoured men.
She taught one of them to [for other animals to kill], and he [even] learned [kill and] eat people.
4 Then the nations assembled against him, he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt.
[When people from other] nations heard about him, they trapped him in a pit. Then they used hooks to drag him to Egypt.
5 Now when she saw that she was disappointed, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
His mother waited for him [to return], but [soon] she stopped hoping/expecting [that he would return]. So she raised another cub who [also] became very fierce.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion; and he learned to catch the prey, he devoured men.
He hunted along with [other] [for animals to kill], and he even learned [kill and] eat people.
7 And he knew their castles, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring.
He destroyed forts, and he ruined cities. When he roared [loudly], everyone was terrified.
8 Then the nations cried out against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him, he was taken in their pit.
So [people of other] nations planned to kill him, and men came from many places to spread out a net for him, and they caught him in a trap.
9 And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; that they might bring him into strongholds, so that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
They tied him with chains and took him to Babylonia. And [there] he was locked in a prison, with the result that [no one on] the hills of Israel ever heard him roar again.’ [Also, say to the Israeli people, ]
10 Thy mother was like a vine, in thy likeness, planted by the waters; she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
‘[It is as though] [SIM] your mother was a grapevine that was planted along a stream. There was plenty of water, so it had lots of branches and produced [a lot of] grapes.
11 And she had strong rods to be sceptres for them that bore rule; and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she was seen in her height with the multitude of her tendrils.
That grapevine grew and became taller than all the nearby trees; [everyone could] see that it was very strong and healthy. And those branches were good for making scepters that symbolize the power/ [of a king].
12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit; her strong rods were broken off and withered, the fire consumed her.
[Yahweh] became very angry, so he pulled up the vine by its roots and threw it on the ground, where the [very hot] winds from the desert dried up all its fruit. The strong branches wilted and were burned in a fire.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
Now that vine has been planted in a hot, dry desert.
14 And fire is gone out of the rod of her branches, it hath devoured her fruit, so that there is in her no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule.' This is a lamentation, and it was for a lamentation.
A fire started to burn its stem, and then started to burn the branches and burned all the grapes. [Now] not [even] one strong branch remains; they will never become scepters for a king.’ That funeral song must be sung very sadly.”
