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Ezekiel 19

A Lament for the Princes of Israel

1 And you, ^atake up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say:

What was your mother? ^bA lioness!
Among lions she crouched;
in the midst of young lions
she reared her cubs.
3 And she brought up one of her cubs;
^che became a young lion,
^dand he learned to catch prey;
he devoured men.
4 The nations heard about him;
^ehe was caught in their pit,
^fand they brought him with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
5 When she saw that she waited in vain,
that her hope was lost,
^gshe 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 men,
7 and seized ^{▼

▼
Hebrew knew} their widows.
He laid waste their cities,
and the land was appalled and all who were in it
at the sound of his roaring.
8 ⁱThen the nations set against him
from provinces on every side;
^jthey spread their net over him;
^khe was taken in their pit.
9 With hooks ^lthey put him in a cage ^{▼

▼
Or in a wooden collar}
and ⁿbrought him to the king of Babylon;
they brought him into custody,
that his voice should no more be heard
on ^othe mountains of Israel.
10 Your mother was ^plike a vine in a vineyard ^{▼

▼
Some Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts in your blood}
planted by the water,
^rfruitful and full of branches
^sby reason of abundant water.
11 Its strong stems became
rulers’ scepters;
it towered aloft
among the thick boughs; ^{▼

▼
Or the clouds}
it was seen in its height
with the mass of its branches.
12 But the vine was plucked up in fury,
cast down to the ground;
^uthe east wind dried up its fruit;
they were stripped off and withered.
As for its strong stem,
fire consumed it.
13 ^vNow it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.
14 ^wAnd fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,
has consumed its fruit,
^xso that there remains in it no strong stem,
no scepter for ruling.

This is ^ya lamentation and has become a lamentation.