Ezekiel 19
1NOW take thou up a lamentation for the prince of Israel
2and thou shalt say, What was thy mother? She was a lioness among lions. In the midst of lions she multiplied her young.
3And one of her young lions sallied forth; he became a lion and learned to prowl. He devoured men
4and the nations heard of him; in their trap he was taken and carried in a cage to the land of Egypt.
5When she saw that her main support was removed from her, was lost; she took another of her young lions and made him lion.
6And he roamed about among lions.
7He became a lion and learned to seize prey. He devoured men and prowled with fierceness, and made their cities a desolation and laid waste the land, and the fulness thereof by the sound of his roaring.
8Then the nations set upon him from the countries around: they spread their nets for him; in their trap he was taken.
9So they chained him and in a cage he came to the king of Babylon, who put him in prison that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel.
10Thy mother was like a vine or a flowery pomegranate planted by water. It was fruitful and full of buds by being plentifully watered.
11And it became a sceptre for them who bear rule over tribes, and became distinguished for its greatness among other stocks, and was conscious of its greatness by the multitude of its branches.
12But it is broken in wrath and thrown on the ground; and a burning wind hath blasted its choice branches. Vengeance hath been taken on them: and the rod of its strength is withered; a fire hath consumed it.
13And now, when they had planted it in a desert, in a land without water,
14a fire hath issued forth from a rod of her choice shoots and consumed her, and she hath no more in her a sceptre of power. The tribe is become a parable in the song of woe, and shall be for a subject of lamentation.