Ezekiel 19:1–9

¹“As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel ²and say:

‘What was your mother?

A lioness among the lions!

She lay down among the young lions;

she reared her cubs.

³She brought up one of her cubs,

and he became a young lion.

After learning to tear his prey,

he devoured men.

⁴When the nations heard of him,

he was trapped in their pit.

With hooks they led him away

to the land of Egypt.

⁵When she saw that she had waited in vain,

that her hope was lost,

she took another of her cubs

and made him a young lion.

⁶He prowled among the lions,

and became a young lion.

After learning to tear his prey,

he devoured men.

⁷He broke down their strongholds^a

and devastated their cities.

The land and everything in it

shuddered at the sound of his roaring.

⁸Then the nations set out against him

from the provinces on every side.

They spread their net over him;

he was trapped in their pit.

⁹With hooks they caged him

and brought him to the king of Babylon.

They brought him into captivity

so that his roar was heard no longer

on the mountains of Israel.