Ezekiel 19
1 “And you, lift up a lamentation to princes of Israel,
Sing this funeral song for the princes 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.
with these words: “What was your mother? She was a lioness among the lions! She lay down in her place among the young lions and reared her cubs.
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.
She raised one of her cubs, and he grew up to be young lion. Once he had learned how to tear up his prey, he started eating people.
4 And nations hear of him, He has been caught in their pit, And they bring him to the land of Egypt in chains.
But when the nations heard about him, he was caught in their trap. They used hooks to drag him away to Egypt.
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.
When she realized that the hope she had been waiting for was gone, she made another of her cubs into a young 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.
He went around with the other lions, and became strong. Once he had learned how to tear up his prey, he started eating people.
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.
He tore down their fortresses and destroyed their towns. All the people living in the country were appalled when they heard him 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 people of the countries all around attacked him. They threw their net over him; he was caught in their trap.
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.
They used hooks to put him in a cage and took him to the king of Babylon. They led him away and imprisoned him so his roar wasn't heard any more in Israel's mountains.
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 like a vine planted in your vineyard at the waterside. It produced a lot of fruit and had many branches because it had plenty of 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.
Its branches were strong like rulers' scepters. It grew high above the tree canopy. People could see how tall and full of leaves it was.
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 it was uprooted in anger and thrown down on the ground. The east wind blew and dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped of leaves and they withered. Then they were burned up in the fire.
13 And now she is planted in a wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.
Now the vine has been replanted in the desert, in a dry and waterless 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!”
A fire blazed out from its main trunk and burned up its fruit. None of its branches that were once like a ruler's scepter are strong any more.” This is a funeral song and is to be used for mourning.
