Ezekiel 19
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.
4 Then the nations sounded an alarm against him,
and he was caught in their pit.
They dragged him off with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
5 When his mother saw that her hopes were thwarted
and her expectations would not be fulfilled,
she took another of her cubs
and made a young lion of him.
6 He prowled among the lions
and grew into a young lion.
He learned to seize his prey;
he devoured men.
7 He ravaged their strongholds
and laid waste their cities.
The land and all of its inhabitants were terrified
at the sound of his roars.
8 The nations came forth against him
from the surrounding regions.
They spread their net over him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
9 With hooks they dragged him into a cage
and took him away to the king of Babylon.
He was imprisoned, and his roars were no longer heard
on the mountains of Israel.
Allegory of the Vine Branch
10 Your mother was like a vine
planted by the water.
It was fruitful and full of branches
because of the abundant water.
11 Its branches were strong,
suitable for a ruler’s scepter.
It towered in stately height
among the dense foliage.
It was conspicuous for its height
and its many branches.
12 However, it was uprooted in fury
and thrown to the ground.
Its strong branches became withered
and were consumed by fire.
13 Now it has been transplanted to the desert,
to a dry and thirsty land.
14 Fire burst forth from its stem,
devouring its branches and fruit.
It no longer has any strong branch
that could serve as a ruler’s scepter.
This is a lamentation, and it is used for this purpose.
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!
