Ezekiel19
King James Version · Public Domain
1Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
4The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
5Now 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.
6And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
8Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
12But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
13And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 19.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (1-9). Another describing the desolation of the people. (10-14).
vv1-9
Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have terrified and enslaved others, are themselves terrified and enslaved. When professors of religion form connexions with ungodly persons, their children usually grow up following after the maxims and fashions of a wicked world. Advancement to authority discovers the ambition and selfishness of men's hearts; and those who spend their lives in mischief, generally end them by violence.
vv10-14
Jerusalem was a vine, flourishing and fruitful. This vine is now destroyed, though not plucked up by the roots. She has by wickedness made herself like tinder to the sparks of God's wrath, so that her own branches serve as fuel to burn her. Blessed be God, one Branch of the vine here alluded to, is not only become a strong rod for the sceptre of those that rule, but is Himself the true and living Vine. This shall be for a rejoicing to all the chosen people of God throughout all generations.
Key Words
נָשָׂא: to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative
קִינָה: a dirge (as accompanied by beating the breasts or on instruments)
נָשִׂיא: properly, an exalted one, i.e. a king or sheik; also a rising mist
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
מָה: properly, interrogative what? (including how? why? when?); but also exclamation, what! (including how!), or indefinitely what (including whatever, and even relatively, that which); often used with prefixes in various adverbial or conjunctive senses
אֵם: a mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively (like father))
לָבִיא: to roar; a lion (properly, a lioness as the fiercer (although not a roarer;))
בֵּין: between (repeated before each noun, often with other particles); also as a conjunction, either...or
אֲרִי: a lion
Cross References
Ezekiel 19Explicit allusion to Jacob's blessing of Judah as a lion's whelp and old lion.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Jeremiah's lament for Shallum (Jehoahaz), taken captive to Egypt to die.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Historical account of Pharaoh-necho putting Jehoahaz in chains at Riblah.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Condemnation of Jehoiakim's violent oppression, covetousness, and shedding of innocent blood.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Pharaoh-necho appoints Eliakim (Jehoiakim) as the next royal whelp.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Allusion to Judah's strength and vine imagery (washing garments in the blood of grapes).
Supported by JFB
Parallels the vine metaphor for Israel's royal house used earlier in Ezekiel.
Supported by JFB
Repeats the judgment of the east wind drying up the flourishing vine.
Supported by JFB
Jeremiah and the singing men making lamentations for the fallen princes.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The people of the land anointing Jehoahaz to succeed his father Josiah.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nebuchadnezzar binding Jehoiakim in fetters to carry him to Babylon.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the proud height and stature of the tree reaching unto heaven.
Supported by JFB
Repeats the process of raising up another ambitious, predatory young lion.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The classical portrait of Israel as a vine brought out of Egypt.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The east wind of judgment drying up the spring and fountain.
Supported by JFB