Ezekiel 19:1-6

1 Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Yisra'el,

2 and say, What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps.

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

4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Mitzrayim.

5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

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

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.