Ezekiel, 19

1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

1. As for you, son of man, intone 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.

2. Say: A lioness among lions was your mother! Crouching among the cubs she nursed her whelps.

3. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

3. One of these she pushed forward and he grew to be a young lion, able to tear his prey and become a man-eater.

4. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

4. But the nations heard about him and he was trapped in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to 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.

5. When she saw that her hope had come to nothing, she took another of her cubs 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.

6. He strutted among the others for he had become a strong lion, able to tear his prey and be a man-eater.

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.

7. He destroyed their strongholds and ravaged their towns. The country and its inhabitants were alarmed at the sound of his roar.

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.

8. But the nations came against him from the regions round about. They spread their net over him and caught him 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.

9. They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon. There he was put in custody so that his roar was no longer heard in 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.

10. Your mother was like the vine of a vineyard planted near water. It became fruitful and leafy from being so well-watered.

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.

11. It produced a vigorous branch that became a royal scepter towering above the foliage. It was outstanding for its height and its numerous 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.

12. But the vine was uprooted in fury and cast down to the ground. The east wind dried it up and stripped it of its fruit. Its vigorous branch withered and was burned by fire.

13. And now she [is] planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

13. It is now planted in the desert, in an arid land of drought.

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.

14. Fire from its stem has destroyed its branches and fruit. No vigorous branch or royal scepter has been left. This is a lament that people will sing.