Ezekiel 19

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

“And you, lift up a lamentation to princes 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 you have said: What [is] your mother? A lioness, She has crouched down among lions, She has multiplied her whelps in the midst of young lions.

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

And she brings up one of her whelps, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

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

And nations hear of him, He has been caught in their pit, And they bring him to 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 as she waited she sees that her hope has perished, And she takes one of her whelps, She has made him a young 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 goes up and down in the midst of lions, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

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 knows his forsaken habitations, And he has laid waste [to] their cities, And the land and its fullness is desolate, Because of 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;

And surrounding nations set against him from the provinces. And they spread out their net for him, He has been caught 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 prison—in chains, And they bring him to the king of Babylon, They bring him into bulwarks, So that his voice is not heard On mountains of Israel anymore.

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, like the vine in your blood, Is being planted by waters, She was bearing fruit and full of boughs, Because of many waters.

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 has strong rods for scepters of rulers, And she is high in stature above—between thick branches, And it appears in its height In the multitude of its thin shoots.

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.

And she is plucked up in fury, She has been cast to the earth, And the east wind has dried up her fruit, [The] rod of her strength has been broken and withered, Fire has consumed it.

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

And now she is planted in a wilderness, In a dry and thirsty 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 goes forth from a rod of her boughs, It has devoured her fruit, And she has no rod of strength—a scepter to rule, A lamentation—and she has become for a lamentation!”