Ezekiel 19

Israel Degraded

1 "Moreover *Ezek. 26:17; 27:2take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say:

‘What is your mother? A lioness:

She lay down among the lions;

Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.

3 She brought up one of her cubs,

And *Ezek. 19:2; 2 Kin. 23:31, 32he became a young lion;

He learned to catch prey,

And he devoured men.

4 The nations also heard of him;

He was trapped in their pit,

And they brought him with chains to the land of *2 Kin. 23:33, 34; 2 Chr. 36:4Egypt.

5 ‘When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost,

She took *2 Kin. 23:34another of her cubs and made him a young lion.

6 *2 Kin. 24:8, 9He roved among the lions,

And *Ezek. 19:3became a young lion;

He learned to catch prey;

He devoured men.

7 He knew their desolate places,

And laid waste their cities;

The land with its fullness was desolated

By the noise of his roaring.

8 *2 Kin. 24:2, 11Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side,

And spread their net over him;

*Ezek. 19:4He was trapped in their pit.

9 *2 Chr. 36:6; Jer. 22:18They put him in a cage with chains,

And brought him to the king of Babylon;

They brought him in nets,

That his voice should no longer be heard on *Ezek. 6:2the mountains of Israel.

10 ‘Your mother was*Ezek. 17:6like a vine in your bloodline,

Planted by the waters,

*Deut. 8:7–9Fruitful and full of branches

Because of many waters.

11 She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.

*Ezek. 31:3; Dan. 4:11She towered in stature above the thick branches,

And was seen in her height amid the dense foliage.

12 But she was *Jer. 31:27, 28plucked up in fury,

She was cast down to the ground,

And the *Ezek. 17:10; Hos. 13:5east wind dried her fruit.

Her strong branches were broken and withered;

The fire consumed them.

13 And now she is planted in the wilderness,

In a dry and thirsty land.

14 *Judg. 9:15; 2 Kin. 24:20; Ezek. 17:18Fire has come out from a rod of her branches

And devoured her fruit,

So that she has no strong branch— a scepter for ruling.’ "

*Lam. 2:5This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.