Ezekiel 19

Lament for the Leaders of Israel

¹“And you, raise a lament about the leaders of Israel,[#Or “over”]

²and you must say,

‘What a lioness was your mother

She lay down in the midst of young lions,

³And she raised up one from her cubs;

and he learned to tear prey;

⁴And nations heard about him;

and they brought him with hooks

⁵And she saw that she was waiting in vain;[#Or “realized”]

and she took one from her cubs,

⁶And he walked about in the midst of lions;

and he learned to tear prey;

⁷And he knew their widows,[#Or “ravished/raped”; or “he ravaged their strongholds”]

and the land was appalled, and everyone in it

⁸And nations set out against him

and they spread their net over him,

⁹And they put him in a collar with hooks,

so that his voice would not be heard any longer

¹⁰Your mother was like the vine in your vineyard;[#Or “in the vineyard”]

and it was full of branches

¹¹And she produced branches of strength[#Literally “they became to her branches/rods of strength”]

its height became tall

and it was seen because of its tallness

¹²But it was uprooted in rage;

and the east wind dried up its fruit;

and its strong branch dried up;

¹³And now it is planted in the desert,

¹⁴And so fire has gone out from the stem of its branches;

and there was not in it a strong branch,

This is a lament, and it will be used as a lament.