Ezekiel 19:1-6

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.

Ezekiel 19:1-6 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.