Ezekiel 19:1-7

1 As for you, raise up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing her cubs.

3 She raised up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured humans.

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

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

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

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

Ezekiel 19:1-7 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

• [a]. Heb [his widows]