Ezekiel 19 :: New International Version (NIV)

A Lament Over Israel’s Princes

Eze 19:1“Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel

Eze 19:2and say: “ ‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among them and reared her cubs.

Eze 19:3She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he became a man-eater.

Eze 19:4

Eze 19:4The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

Eze 19:5

Eze 19:5“ ‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

Eze 19:6

Eze 19:6He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he became a man-eater.

Eze 19:7

Eze 19:7He broke down[fn] their strongholds and devastated their towns. The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring.

Eze 19:8

Eze 19:8Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about. They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit.

Eze 19:9

Eze 19:9With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.

Eze 19:10

Eze 19:10“ ‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard[fn] planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.

Eze 19:11

Eze 19:11Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick foliage, conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.

Eze 19:12

Eze 19:12But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel, it was stripped of its fruit; its strong branches withered and fire consumed them.

Eze 19:13

Eze 19:13Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land.

Eze 19:14

Eze 19:14Fire spread from one of its main[fn] branches and consumed its fruit. No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler’s scepter.’ “This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.”

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(19:7)

Targum (see Septuagint); Hebrew He knew

(19:10)

Two Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts your blood

(19:14)

Or from under its

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.