Jezekiel 19

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

Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,

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

What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones.

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

And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

4 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.

And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.

5 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.

Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.

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

And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

7 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.

And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.

8 Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit.

Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.

9 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.

They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.

10 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.

Your mother was in comparison like a vine, planted by the waters: she was fertile and full of branches because of the great waters.

11 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.

And she had a strong rod for a rod of authority for the rulers, and it became tall among the clouds and it was seen lifted up among the number of its branches.

12 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.

But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.

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

And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.

14 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.

And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.