< Ezekiel 19 >
1 Thou. therefore take up a dirge, for the prince of Israel;
Moreover do you take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel,
2 and thou shalt say— How was thy mother a lioness, Between lions, she lay down, - In the midst of young lions, She nourished her whelps;
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 reared up one of her whelps— A young lion, he became, And he learned to rend prey. Men, he devoured.
And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learnt to take prey, he devoured men.
4 Then nations heard of him. In their pit, was he caught, — So they brought him with hooks. Into the land of Egypt.
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 she saw she had waited Lost was her hope, Then took she another of her whelps. A young lion, she made him.
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 Yea he went to and fro amidst lions A young lion, he became, - And he learned to rend prey. Men, he devoured;
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 injured his widows, And their cities, laid waste, - And deserted was the land and its fulness, At the noise 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 Then set upon him the nations round about. From the provinces, - And spread over him their net In their pit, was he caught;
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 a cage with hooks, And brought him to Babylon’s king, — They brought him into strong-holds, That his noise might be heard no more Among the mountains of Israel.
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 Thy mother [was] like a vine of thy vineyard, By waters, was planted, — Fruitful and full of branches, she became By reason of waters abundant;
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 they served her as staves of power For the sceptres of rulers, And high became the stature thereof With its interwoven foliage, - And it was seen by its height, By its multitude of branches.
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 Then was she uprooted in indignation To the ground, was she cast, And an east wind, dried up her fruit, —Broken off and withered were her staves of power, A fire, devoured them.
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 Now, therefore, is she planted in a desert, -In a land parched and dry;
And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land.
14 And there hath gone forth a fire out of her staves of rods. Her fruit, hath it devoured, And there is in her no staff of power. As a sceptre to bear rule. A dirge, it is, and hath been made a dirge.
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.