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Ezekiel 19:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Ezekiel 19:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 19[a]
Allegory of the Lions[b]
1 Raise a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say:
What a lioness was your mother
among the lions!
She lay down among the young lions,
rearing her cubs.
3 She raised up one of her cubs;
he grew into a young lion,
and he learned to tear apart his prey;
he devoured men.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 19:1 Israel had fallen far, but it had never divinized its kings. Ezekiel’s lament here refers to Zedekiah, last king of Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 19:1 The lioness represents the nations, and the cubs its kings. Two sadly exemplary destinies are set forth: that of Jehoahaz and that of Jehoiachin. The first was deposed by Pharaoh Neco and taken to Egypt (2 Ki 23:34); the second reigned only three months and was exiled to Babylon (2 Ki 24:8-17; 25:27-30). King Jehoiakim, whose reign was less fleeting and who died a natural death, is not mentioned; his lot did not lend itself to a practical lesson!
