Ezekiel 19:1-10

1 Sing a funeral song for the princes of Israel.

2 Say: Your mother was like a lioness. She lay down among the lions. She fed many cubs.

3 One of the cubs she raised became a young lion. He learned to tear apart the animals he hunted. He ate people.

4 The nations heard about him, caught him in their pit, and brought him with hooks to Egypt.

5 The lioness waited until she saw that there was no more hope. Then she took another one of her cubs and raised him into a young lion.

6 He became a young lion, and he prowled among the lions. He learned to tear apart the animals he hunted. He ate people.

7 He destroyed fortresses and turned cities into wastelands. The land and everyone living in it were terrified by the sound of his roar.

8 The nations from every region came together against him. They spread their net over him and caught him in their pit.

9 With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison so that his roar wouldn't be heard anymore on the mountains of Israel.

10 Your mother was like a grapevine that was planted near water. It had a lot of fruit and many branches because there was plenty of water.

Ezekiel 19:1-10 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.