Ezekiel 19:1-9

A mother’s sons

1 You, raise a lament for Israel's princes.
2 Say: What a lioness among lionesses was your mother! She bedded down among the strong young lions and reared her cubs.
3 She singled out one of her cubs and he became a strong young lion; he learned to tear flesh and devour humans.
4 When the nations heard about him, they caught him in their trap and carried him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5 When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope faded. So she took another of her cubs and set him up as a strong young lion.
6 He went on the prowl with the other lions and became a strong young lion. He learned to tear flesh and devour humans;
7 he ravaged their widows and laid waste to their cities. When the earth and everything in it became horrified by the sound of his raging,
8 the nations from the surrounding regions allied against him. They cast their nets over him and caught him in their trap.
9 They put a collar on him and brought him with hooks. They brought him with nets to the king of Babylon so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 19:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 19

The subject matter of this chapter is a lamentation for the princes and people of the Jews, on account of what had already befallen them, and what was yet to come, Eze 19:1. The mother of the princes is compared to a lioness, and they to lions; who, one after another, were taken and carried captive, Eze 19:2-9; again, their mother is compared to a vine, and they to branches and rods for sceptres, destroyed by an east wind, and consumed by fire, Eze 19:10-14.

Footnotes 1

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