Ezekiel 19

1 “And you, lift up a lamentation to princes of Israel,

Moreover do you take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel,

2 and you have said: What [is] your mother? A lioness, She has crouched down among lions, She has multiplied her whelps in the midst of young lions.

and say, Why is your mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps.

3 And she brings up one of her whelps, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learnt to take prey, he devoured men.

4 And nations hear of him, He has been caught in their pit, And they bring him to the land of Egypt in chains.

And the nations heard a report of him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.

5 And as she waited she sees that her hope has perished, And she takes one of her whelps, She has made him a young lion.

And she saw that he was driven away from her, [and] her hope [of him] perished, and she took another of her whelps; she made him a lion.

6 And he goes up and down in the midst of lions, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

And he went up and down in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learnt to take prey, he devoured men.

7 And he knows his forsaken habitations, And he has laid waste [to] their cities, And the land and its fullness is desolate, Because of the voice of his roaring.

And he prowled in his boldness and laid waste their cities, and made the land desolate, and the fullness of it, by the voice of his roaring.

8 And surrounding nations set against him from the provinces. And they spread out their net for him, He has been caught in their pit.

Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit.

9 And they put him in prison—in chains, And they bring him to the king of Babylon, They bring him into bulwarks, So that his voice is not heard On mountains of Israel anymore.

And they put him in chains and in a cage, [and] he came to the king of Babylon; and he cast him into prison, that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel.

10 Your mother, like the vine in your blood, Is being planted by waters, She was bearing fruit and full of boughs, Because of many waters.

Your mother was as a vine and as a blossom on a pomegranate tree, planted by water: her fruit and her shoot abounded by reason of much water.

11 And she has strong rods for scepters of rulers, And she is high in stature above—between thick branches, And it appears in its height In the multitude of its thin shoots.

And she became a rod for a tribe of princes, and was elevated in her bulk in the midst of [other] trees, and she saw her bulk in the multitude of her branches.

12 And she is plucked up in fury, She has been cast to the earth, And the east wind has dried up her fruit, [The] rod of her strength has been broken and withered, Fire has consumed it.

But she was broken down in wrath, she was cast upon the ground, and the east wind dried up her choice [branches]: vengeance came upon them, and the rod of her strength was withered; fire consumed it.

13 And now she is planted in a wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land.

14 And fire goes forth from a rod of her boughs, It has devoured her fruit, And she has no rod of strength—a scepter to rule, A lamentation—and she has become for a lamentation!”

And fire is gone out of a rod of her choice [boughs], and has devoured her; and there was no rod of strength in her. Her race is become a parable of lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.