Ezekiel, 19

1. 'Now, raise a lament for the princes of Israel.

1. And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

2. Say: What was your mother? A lioness among lions; lying among the cubs she nursed her whelps.

2. and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She couched in the midst of young lions, rearing her whelps.

3. She reared one of her whelps: he grew into a young lion; he learnt to tear his prey; he became a man-eater.

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

4. The nations came to hear of him; he was caught in their pit; they dragged him away with hooks to Egypt.

4. The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

5. Her expectation thwarted, and seeing her hope dashed, she took another of her whelps and made a young lion of him.

5. When she saw that she was baffled, that her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion.

6. He prowled among the lions, he grew into a young lion, he learnt to tear his prey; he became a man-eater.

6. He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.

7. He tore down their palaces, he destroyed their cities; the land and all its inhabitants were appalled by the sound of his roars.

7. And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their cities; and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring.

8. The nations marched out against him from the surrounding provinces; they spread their net over him; he was caught in their pit.

8. Then the nations set against him snares on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.

9. They shackled him with hooks, they took him to the king of Babylon and threw him into a fortress, so that his voice could never again be heard on the mountains of Israel.

9. With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

10. Your mother was like a vine planted beside the water, fruitful and leafy, because the water flowed so full.

10. Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water.

11. She had stout stems which became kingly sceptres; she grew higher and higher, up into the clouds; she was admired for her height and the number of her branches.

11. Its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

12. But she was furiously uprooted and thrown on the ground; the east wind dried up her fruit, she was broken to pieces; her stout stem dried up, the fire devoured it.

12. But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it.

13. Now she has been transplanted to the desert, to a dry and thirsty land.

13. Now it is transplanted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

14. Fire burst out of her stem devouring her branches and fruit. No more stout stem for her, no more kingly sceptre.' This is a lament; it was used as such.

14. And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for a ruler. This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.