*THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
EZEKIEL
Ezekiel 19 ©
A Prophetical lamentation for the wicked administration and the miserable end of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, kings of Judah, as also for the ruin of all the land of Judah, under the parable of a lioness, lions’ whelps and young lions; likewise of a vine with her rods, etc.
MOREOVER1 take thou up a lamentation for the 2princes of Israel,
And say, What is 3thy mother? A 4lioness: she lay down 5among lions, she nourished her 6whelps among 7young lions.
And she brought up 8one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch 9the prey; 10it devoured men.
11The nations also heard of him; he was taken 12in their pit, 13and they brought him 14with chains unto the land of Egypt.a
Now when 15she saw that she had waited, and her hope was 16lost, then she took 17another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
And he went up and down among 18the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch 19the prey, and devoured men.
And he knew 20their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was 21desolate, and 22the fulness thereof, 23by the noise of his roaring.
Then the 24nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and 25spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
And they put him in ward inb26chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: 27they brought 28him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
¶ 29Thy mother is like a vine 30in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And 31she had 32strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her 33stature 34was exalted among the 35thick branches, and 36she 37appeared in her height with the 38multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in 39fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the 40east wind dried up her fruit: her 41strong rods were broken and withered; the 42fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in 43the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
And fire is gone 44out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod 45to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.