Logos Bible Study

Ezekiel 19:1–9

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

Lament for the Princes of Israel

19:1“And you, sing1 a lament for the princes of Israel, 19:2and say:

“ ‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions!

She lay among young lions;2 she reared her cubs.

19:3She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion.

He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.3

19:4The nations heard about him; he was trapped in their pit.

They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.4

19:5“ ‘When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost.

She took another of her cubs5 and made him a young lion.

19:6He walked about among the lions; he became a young lion.

He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.

19:7He broke down6 their strongholds7 and devastated their cities.

The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

19:8The nations—the surrounding regions—attacked him.

They threw their net over him; he was caught in their pit.

19:9They put him in a collar with hooks;8

they brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him to prison9

so that his voice would not be heard

any longer on the mountains of Israel.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 1 Heb “lift up.”
  2. 2 Lions probably refer to Judahite royalty and/or nobility. The lioness appears to symbolize the Davidic dynasty, though some see the referent as Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. Gen 49:9 seems to be the background for Judah being compared to lions.
  3. 3 Heb “a man.”
  4. 4 The description applies to king Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:31–34; Jer 22:10–12).
  5. 5 The identity of this second lion is unclear; the referent is probably Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. If the lioness is Hamutal, then Zedekiah is the lion described here.
  6. 6 The Hebrew text reads “knew,” but is apparently the result of a ר-ד (dalet-resh) confusion. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (), 1:. However, Allen retains the reading “widows” as the object of the verb, which he understands in the sense of “do harm to,” and translates the line: “He did harm to women by making them widows” (p. ). The line also appears to be lacking a beat for the meter of the poem.
  7. 7 The Hebrew text reads “widows” instead of “strongholds,” apparently due to a confusion of ר (resh) and ל (lamed). L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [], 1:) favors the traditional text, understanding “widows” in the sense of “women made widows.” D. I. Block, (Ezekiel [], 1:) also defends the Hebrew text, arguing that the image is that of a dominant male lion who takes over the pride and by copulating with the females lays claim to his predecessor’s “widows.”
  8. 8 Or “They put him in a neck stock with hooks.” The noun סּוּגַר (sugar), translated “collar,” occurs only here in the Bible. L. C. Allen and D. I. Block point out a Babylonian cognate that refers to a device for transporting prisoners of war that held them by their necks (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [], 1:, n. 35; L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [], 1:). Based on the Hebrew root, the traditional rendering had been “cage” (cf. , , , , ).
  9. 9 The term in the occurs only here and in Eccl 9:12 where it refers to a net for catching fish. The translates this as “prison,” which assumes a confusion of dalet and resh took place in the .

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press