Ezekiel

19* “And you, man, strike up a dirge for the prince of Israel 2 and say ‘What was your mother? a lioness: she lay at ease among young lions, she reared her cubs. 3* And she elevated one of her cubs, who became a young lion and learned to make a kill; he ate men. 4 And they summoned nations against him; he was caught in their pitfall; and they brought him to Egypt by hooks.

5** “‘And she saw that her hope at first was lost, and she took one of her cubs, made him a young lion, 6 and he went about among lions, became a young lion, and learned to make a kill; he ate men. 7* And he broke their palaces and wasted their cities, and earth and all that filled it stood aghast at the sound of his roar. 8* And nations set toils for him all round and spread their nets for him, and he was caught in their pitfall, 9* and they put him in a cage by hooks and he came to Babylonia; they took him into fortresses, in order that his voice might not be heard again on the mountains of Israel.

10* “‘Your mother was like a grapevine on a pomegranate tree set out by water, which became fruitful and branchy by abundant water; 11* and it had a strong stem for a princely scepter, whose tallness reached up between clouds, and which was conspicuous by its height by the abundance of its shoots; 12 but it was uprooted in ire, thrown on the ground, and the east wind dried out its fruit; its strong stem was broken off and dried out, fire consumed it. 13 And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a country of drought and thirst; 14 and a fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its canes, and it has not in it a strong stem, a scepter for ruling. This is a dirge and has come to be a dirge.’”