Ezekiel 19

1 "Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

And thou, lift up a lamentation unto princes of Israel,

2 and say, 'What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her cubs.

and thou hast said: What [is] thy mother? — a lioness, Among lions she hath crouched down, In the midst of young lions she hath multiplied her whelps.

3 She brought up one of her cubs: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.

And she bringeth up one of her whelps, A young lion it hath been, And it learneth to tear prey, man it hath devoured.

4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

And hear of it do nations, In their pit it hath been caught, And they bring it in with chains unto the land of Egypt.

5 "'Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.

And she seeth, that stayed — perished hath her hope, And she taketh one of her whelps, A young lion she hath made it.

6 He went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.

And it goeth up and down in the midst of lions, A young lion it hath been, And it learneth to tear prey, man it hath devoured.

7 He devastated their strongholds, and destroyed their cities; and the land was desolate, and its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring.

And it knoweth his forsaken habitations, And their cities it hath laid waste, And desolate is the land and its fulness, Because of the voice of his roaring.

8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.

And set against it do nations Round about from the provinces. And they spread out for it their net, In their pit it hath been caught.

9 They put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.

And they put it in prison — in chains, And they bring it unto the king of Babylon, They bring it in unto bulwarks, So that its voice is not heard any more On mountains of Israel.

10 "'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

Thy mother [is] as a vine in thy blood by waters planted, Fruitful and full of boughs it hath been, Because of many waters.

11 It had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.

And it hath strong rods for sceptres of rulers, And high is its stature above thick branches, And it appeareth in its height In the multitude of its thin shoots.

12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them.

And it is plucked up in fury, To the earth it hath been cast, And the east wind hath dried up its fruit, Broken and withered hath been the rod of its strength, Fire hath consumed it.

13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

And now — it is planted in a wilderness, In a land dry and thirsty.

14 Fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a scepter to rule.' This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation."

And go forth doth fire from a rod of its boughs, Its fruit it hath devoured, And it hath no rod of strength — a sceptre to rule, Lamentation it [is] — and it is for a lamentation!'