Ezekiel 19 - A Lamentation for the Princes of Israel
A funeral song for Judah's captured kings, pictured as a lion cub and an uprooted vine.
This short chapter is a funeral dirge for Judah's last kings, first pictured as a lioness whose cubs are trapped and dragged off to Egypt and Babylon, then as a fruitful vine torn up by the roots. Following directly after Ezekiel 18's teaching on personal guilt, it turns that principle into mourning over real rulers who fell by their own violence.
“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
When the nations heard of him, he was trapped in their pit. With hooks they led him away to the land of Egypt.
When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.
He broke down their strongholds and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it shuddered at the sound of his roaring.
Then the nations set out against him from the provinces on every side. They spread their net over him; he was trapped in their pit.
With hooks they caged him and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into captivity so that his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.
Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage.
But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
Fire has gone out from its main branch and devoured its fruit; on it no strong branch remains fit for a ruler’s scepter.’ This is a lament and shall be used as a lament.”