Ezekiel 19
Amplified Bible
Dirge for the Princes of Israel
19 “As for you, take up a dirge (funeral poem to be sung) for the princes of Israel 2 and say,
‘What was your mother [Jerusalem and Judah]?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among young lions,
She reared her cubs.
3
‘When she [the royal mother-city] brought up [Jehoahaz] one of her cubs,
He became a [young] lion,
And he learned to catch and tear the prey;
He devoured men.(A)
4
‘The nations heard about him;
He was captured in their pit,
And they brought him with hooks
To the land of Egypt.(B)
5
‘When she saw, as she waited,
That her hope was lost,
She took [a]another of her cubs
And made him a young lion.(C)
6
‘And he moved among the lions;
He became a young lion,
He learned to tear the prey;
He devoured men.
7
‘He destroyed their palaces
And he flattened their cities;
And the land and all who were in it were appalled
By the sound of his roaring.
8
‘Then the nations set against him (the king)
On every side from the provinces,
And they spread their net over him;
He was captured in their pit.(D)
9
‘They put him in a cage with hooks and chains
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in hunting nets
So that his voice would be heard no more
On the mountains of Israel.
10
‘Your mother [Jerusalem] was like a vine in your [b]vineyard,
Planted by the waters;
It was fruitful and full of branches
Because of abundant water.(E)
11
‘And it had strong branches for the scepters of rulers,
And its height was raised above the thick branches and into the clouds
So that it was seen [easily] in its height with the mass of its branches.
12
‘But the vine was uprooted in [godly] wrath [by His representative]
And it was thrown down to the ground;
The east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branch was broken off
So that it withered;
The fire [of God’s judgment] consumed it.
13
‘And now it is transplanted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land [of Babylon].
14
‘And the fire [of Zedekiah’s rebellion] has gone out from its branch;
It has consumed the vine’s shoots and fruit,
So that it has in it no [longer a] strong branch
As a scepter to rule.’”
This is a dirge (funeral poem to be sung), and has become a dirge.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 19:5 Either a timely reference to Jehoiachin who reigned only three months, or a prediction regarding Zedekiah. Both rulers were exiled to Babylon.
- Ezekiel 19:10 So with some ancient mss; MT blood.
Ezekiel 19
King James Version
19 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
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