Ezekiel 19

¹And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel ,

²and say : What was your mother ? A lioness ! Among lions she crouched ; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs .

³And she brought up one of her cubs ; he became a young lion , and he learned to catch prey ; he devoured men .

⁴The nations heard about him; he was caught in their pit , and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt .

⁵When she saw that she waited in vain , that her hope was lost , she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion .

⁶He prowled among the lions ; he became a young lion , and he learned to catch prey ; he devoured men ,

⁷and seized their widows . He laid waste their cities , and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring .

⁸Then the nations set against him from provinces on every side ; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit .

⁹With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon ; they brought him into custody , that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel .

¹⁰Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water , fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water .

¹¹Its strong stems became rulers ’ scepters ; it towered aloft among the thick boughs ; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches .

¹²But the vine was plucked up in fury , cast down to the ground ; the east wind dried up its fruit ; they were stripped off and withered . As for its strong stem , fire consumed it.

¹³Now it is planted in the wilderness , in a dry and thirsty land .

¹⁴And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots , has consumed its fruit , so that there remains in it no strong stem , no scepter for ruling . This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation .