Ezekiel 19

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

Thou. therefore take up a dirge, for the prince of Israel;

2 And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?

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;

3 And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

And she reared up one of her whelps— A young lion, he became, And he learned to rend prey. Men, he devoured.

4 And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.

Then nations heard of him. In their pit, was he caught, — So they brought him with hooks. Into the land of Egypt.

5 But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.

And she saw she had waited Lost was her hope, Then took she another of her whelps. A young lion, she made him.

6 And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

Yea he went to and fro amidst lions A young lion, he became, - And he learned to rend prey. Men, he devoured;

7 He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roaring.

And he injured his widows, And their cities, laid waste, - And deserted was the land and its fulness, At the noise of his roaring.

8 And the nations Game together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken.

Then set upon him the nations round about. From the provinces, - And spread over him their net In their pit, was he caught;

9 And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

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.

10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.

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;

11 And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.

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.

12 But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her.

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.

13 And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.

Now, therefore, is she planted in a desert, -In a land parched and dry;

14 And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.

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.