Ezekiel 19:1–9

Funeral Songs for Israel’s Princes

¹Sing a funeral song for the princes of Israel. ²Say: 

Your mother was like a lioness. 

She lay down among the lions. 

She fed many cubs. 

³One of the cubs she raised became a young lion. 

He learned to tear apart the animals he hunted. 

He ate people. 

⁴The nations heard about him, 

caught him in their pit, 

and brought him with hooks to Egypt. 

⁵The lioness waited until she saw that there was no more hope. 

Then she took another one of her cubs 

and raised him into a young lion. 

⁶He became a young lion, and he prowled among the lions. 

He learned to tear apart the animals he hunted. 

He ate people. 

⁷He destroyed fortresses 

and turned cities into wastelands. 

The land and everyone living in it 

were terrified by the sound of his roar. 

⁸The nations from every region came together against him. 

They spread their net over him 

and caught him in their pit. 

⁹With hooks they put him in a cage 

and brought him to the king of Babylon. 

They put him in prison 

so that his roar wouldn’t be heard anymore 

on the mountains of Israel.