Ezekiel 19

1And you are to intone a dirge over the princes of Israel,

2and say:What a lioness was your motherAmong the lions!Crouching among the great beasts,She reared her cubs.

3She raised up one of her cubs,He became a great beast;He learned to hunt prey—He devoured people.

4Nations heeded [the call] against him;He was caught in their snare.They dragged him off with hooksTo the land of Egypt.

5When she saw herself frustrated,Her hope defeated,She took another of her cubsAnd set him up as a great beast.

6He stalked among the lions,He was a great beast;He learned to hunt prey—He devoured people.

7He raped their widows, Laid waste their cities;The land and all in it were appalledAt the sound of his roaring.

8Nations from the countries round aboutArrayed themselves against him.They spread their net over him,He was caught in their snare.

9With hooks he was put in a cage,They carried him off to the king of BabylonAnd confined him in a fortress,So that never again should his roar be heardOn the hills of Israel.

10Your mother was like a vine in your blood, Planted beside streams,With luxuriant boughs and branchesThanks to abundant waters.

11And she had a mighty rod Fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered highest among the leafy trees, It was conspicuous by its height,By the abundance of its boughs.

12But plucked up in a fury,She was hurled to the ground.The east wind withered her branches,They broke apart and dried up;And her mighty rod was consumed by fire.

13Now she is planted in the desert,In ground that is arid and parched.

14Fire has issued from her twig-laden branchAnd has consumed her boughs,She is left without a mighty rod,A scepter to rule with.This is a dirge, and it has become a [familiar] dirge.