Ezekiel 19:1-14
19 “And as for you, raise a dirge+ concerning the chieftains of Israel,+
2 and you must say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness among lions.*+ She lay down in among maned young lions. She reared her cubs.
3 “‘And gradually she brought up one of her cubs.+ A maned young lion is what he became, and he began to learn how to tear apart prey.+ He devoured even earthling man.*
4 And nations kept hearing about him. In their pit he was caught, and they proceeded to bring him by means of hooks* to the land of Egypt.+
5 “‘When she got to see that she had waited [and] her hope had perished, then she took another of her cubs.+ As a maned young lion she put him forth.
6 And he began to walk about in the midst of lions. A maned young lion is what he became. And he gradually learned how to tear apart prey.+ He devoured even earthling man.+
7 And he got to know his dwelling towers,* and he devastated even their cities,+ so that the land was laid desolate and he filled it with the sound of his roaring.+
8 And nations all around from the jurisdictional districts began to set* against him+ and got to spread over him their net.+ In their pit he was caught.+
9 Finally they put him in the cage by means of hooks* and brought him to the king of Babylon.*+ They got to bring him by means of hunting nets, in order that his voice might no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.+
10 “‘Your mother+ was like a vine in your blood,*+ planted by waters. A bearer of fruit and full of branches she became because of abundant water.+
11 And they came to be for her strong rods, meant for the scepters of rulers.+ And its height gradually became tall up among branches, and it got to be visible because of its tallness, because of the abundance of its foliage.+
12 But she was finally uprooted in fury.+ To the earth she was thrown, and there was an east wind that dried up her fruit.+ Her strong rod was torn off and became dry.+ Fire itself devoured it.+
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness,+ in a waterless and thirsty land.+
14 And fire proceeded to come forth from [her] rod.+ It devoured her very shoots, her very fruit, and there proved to be in her no strong rod, no scepter for ruling.+
“‘That is a dirge, and it will become a dirge.’”+
Footnotes
^ “Lions.” Heb., ʼara·yohthʹ, African lions.
^ “Earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ Or, “thorns”; put through the cheek or nose of animals as well as of captives in order to lead them on a rope.
^ “Dwelling towers; palaces,” by the substitution of a letter; M, “widows.”
^ Possibly, “camp,” by changing the letter Taw to Chehth.
^ “Babylon,” LXXVg; MTSy, “Babel.”
^ See vs 4 ftn.
^ “In your blood,” MSyVg; two Heb. mss, “of your vineyard”; T, “she used to resemble.”
