Ezekiel 19:1–9

A Sad Song for Israel

19“Sing a funeral song for the leaders of Israel. ²Say:

‘Your mother was like a female lion.

She lay down among the young lions.

She had many cubs.

³When she brought up one of her cubs,

he became a strong lion.

He learned to tear the animals he hunted,

and he ate people.

⁴The nations heard about him.

He was trapped in their pit,

and they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

⁵“ ‘The mother lion waited and saw

that there was no hope for her cub.

So she took another one of her cubs

and made him a strong lion.

⁶This cub roamed among the lions.

He was now a strong lion.

He learned to tear the animals he hunted,

and he ate people.

⁷He tore down their strong places

and destroyed their cities.

The land and everything in it

were terrified by the sound of his roar.

⁸Then the nations came against him

from areas all around,

and they spread their net over him.

He was trapped in their pit.

⁹Then they put him into a cage with chains

and brought him to the king of Babylon.

They put him into prison

so his roar could not be heard again

on the mountains of Israel.