Ezekiel 19

1 [Yahweh said to me, “Ezekiel], sing a sad funeral [a which will be a parable] [two of the] kings of Israel.

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

2 Say [to the Israeli people], ‘[It is as though] [MET] your mother was a brave female lion who raised her cubs among [other] lions.

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

3 She taught one of them to [for other animals to kill], and he [even] learned [kill and] eat people.

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

4 [When people from other] nations heard about him, they trapped him in a pit. Then they used hooks to drag him to 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 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.

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 He hunted along with [other] [for animals to kill], and he even learned [kill and] eat people.

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

7 He destroyed forts, and he ruined cities. When he roared [loudly], everyone was terrified.

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 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.

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 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, ]

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 ‘[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.

Thy 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 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].

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 [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.

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 that vine has been planted in a hot, dry desert.

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

14 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.”

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.