Ezekiel 19
The leaders of Israel are compared to a lioness who raises her cubs among lions, but they are eventually captured and taken away by the Gentiles. A second lion is appointed, but he also becomes a destroyer of men and is eventually captured and imprisoned. The passage then shifts to a metaphor of a vine, representing Israel, which is planted by the water and flourishes, but is eventually uprooted and destroyed by fire.
1"And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel2and you shall say: Why did your mother, the lioness, recline among the male lions, and raise her little ones in the midst of young lions3And she led away one of her little ones, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to consume men4And the Gentiles heard about him, and they seized him, but not without receiving wounds. And they led him away in chains to the land of Egypt5Then, when she had seen that she was weakened, and that her hope had perished, she took one of her little ones, and appointed him as a lion6And he advanced among the lions, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to devour men7He learned to make widows, and to lead their citizens into the desert. And the land, with its plenitude, was made desolate by the voice of his roaring8And the Gentiles came together against him, on every side, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; by their wounds, he was captured9And they put him into a cage; they led him in chains to the king of Babylon. And they cast him into a prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel10Your mother is like a vine, in your blood, planted by the water; her fruit and her branches have increased because of many waters11And her strong branches were made into scepters for the rulers, and her stature was exalted among the branches. And she saw her own loftiness among the multitude of her branches12But she was uprooted in wrath, and cast upon the ground. And the burning wind dried up her fruit. Her robust branches withered and were dried up. A fire consumed her13And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry14And a fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which has consumed her fruit. And there is no strong branch in her to become a scepter for the rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be a lamentation.
Share this chapter