Ezekiel 19
The Message
A Story of Two Lions
19 1-4 Sing the blues over the princes of Israel. Say:
What a lioness was your mother
among lions!
She crouched in a pride of young lions.
Her cubs grew large.
She reared one of her cubs to maturity,
a robust young lion.
He learned to hunt.
He ate men.
Nations sounded the alarm.
He was caught in a trap.
They took him with hooks
and dragged him to Egypt.
5-9 When the lioness saw she was luckless,
that her hope for that cub was gone,
She took her other cub
and made him a strong young lion.
He prowled with the lions,
a robust young lion.
He learned to hunt.
He ate men.
He rampaged through their defenses,
left their cities in ruins.
The country and everyone in it
was terrorized by the roars of the lion.
The nations got together to hunt him.
Everyone joined the hunt.
They set out their traps
and caught him.
They put a wooden collar on him
and took him to the king of Babylon.
No more would that voice be heard
disturbing the peace in the mountains of Israel!
10-14 Here’s another way to put it:
Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard,
transplanted alongside streams of water,
Luxurious in branches and grapes
because of the ample water.
It grew sturdy branches
fit to be carved into a royal scepter.
It grew high, reaching into the clouds.
Its branches filled the horizon,
and everyone could see it.
Then it was ripped up in a rage
and thrown to the ground.
The hot east wind shriveled it up
and stripped its fruit.
The sturdy branches dried out,
fit for nothing but kindling.
Now it’s a stick stuck out in the desert,
a bare stick in a desert of death,
Good for nothing but making fires,
campfires in the desert.
Not a hint now of those sturdy branches
fit for use as a royal scepter!
(This is a sad song, a text for singing the blues.)
Ezekiel 19
New International Version
A Lament Over Israel’s Princes
19 “Take up a lament(A) concerning the princes(B) of Israel 2 and say:
“‘What a lioness(C) was your mother
among the lions!
She lay down among them
and reared her cubs.(D)
3 She brought up one of her cubs,
and he became a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
and he became a man-eater.
4 The nations heard about him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks(E)
to the land of Egypt.(F)
5 “‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled,
her expectation gone,
she took another of her cubs(G)
and made him a strong lion.(H)
6 He prowled among the lions,
for he was now a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
and he became a man-eater.(I)
7 He broke down[a] their strongholds
and devastated(J) their towns.
The land and all who were in it
were terrified by his roaring.
8 Then the nations(K) came against him,
those from regions round about.
They spread their net(L) for him,
and he was trapped in their pit.(M)
9 With hooks(N) they pulled him into a cage
and brought him to the king of Babylon.(O)
They put him in prison,
so his roar(P) was heard no longer
on the mountains of Israel.(Q)
10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard[b](R)
planted by the water;(S)
it was fruitful and full of branches
because of abundant water.(T)
11 Its branches were strong,
fit for a ruler’s scepter.
It towered high
above the thick foliage,
conspicuous for its height
and for its many branches.(U)
12 But it was uprooted(V) in fury
and thrown to the ground.
The east wind(W) made it shrivel,
it was stripped of its fruit;
its strong branches withered
and fire consumed them.(X)
13 Now it is planted in the desert,(Y)
in a dry and thirsty land.(Z)
14 Fire spread from one of its main[c] branches
and consumed(AA) its fruit.
No strong branch is left on it
fit for a ruler’s scepter.’(AB)
“This is a lament(AC) and is to be used as a lament.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 19:7 Targum (see Septuagint); Hebrew He knew
- Ezekiel 19:10 Two Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts your blood
- Ezekiel 19:14 Or from under its
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.