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A Lament for the Princes of Israel
Ezekiel 19 is a lament, a sorrowful song about Israel’s princes. It uses two pictures, a lioness with cubs and a vine with branches, to describe strength that became ruined and silenced.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
This passage begins with a command to take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel. The whole poem explains that lament through vivid images. First it speaks of a lioness raising cubs, then it turns to a vine once fruitful and strong, but later broken, dried and left without a ruling branch.
Ezekiel 19:1–14Main takeaway
This lament shows that power and promise can end in loss, leaving the princes of Israel with no strong branch to rule.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A lament for the princesThe passage opens by naming its form: a lamentation for the princes of Israel. That matters because the chapter is a mourning song, not a simple report.
Explanation
The passage opens by naming its form: a lamentation for the princes of Israel. That matters because the chapter is a mourning song, not a simple report. Its pictures are meant to express grief over what has happened to Israel’s rulers and what has been lost.
02The lioness and her first cubThe first image is a lioness among lions, raising her cubs. One cub grows into a young lion who catches prey and devours men.
Explanation
The first image is a lioness among lions, raising her cubs. One cub grows into a young lion who catches prey and devours men. The nations hear of him, trap him in a pit, and bring him with hooks to Egypt. The poem moves from strength to capture.
03The second cub is silencedAfter hope is lost, the lioness raises another cub. He too becomes a young lion, catching prey and devouring men.
Explanation
After hope is lost, the lioness raises another cub. He too becomes a young lion, catching prey and devouring men. His roaring leaves cities laid waste and the land desolate. Then the nations surround him, trap him, cage him with hooks, and take him to Babylon so his voice is no longer heard in Israel.
04The vine that lost its branchesThe poem then changes pictures. The mother is like a vine planted by waters, fruitful and full of branches.
Explanation
The poem then changes pictures. The mother is like a vine planted by waters, fruitful and full of branches. Its strong branches are fit for rulers’ sceptres, tall and visible. But it is plucked up in fury, cast down, dried by the east wind, and consumed by fire.
05No strong branch remainsThe final lines show the vine now planted in wilderness, a dry and thirsty land. Fire comes out from its own branches and devours its fruit.
Explanation
The final lines show the vine now planted in wilderness, a dry and thirsty land. Fire comes out from its own branches and devours its fruit. The ending explains the sorrow clearly: there is no strong branch left for a ruler’s sceptre. That is why this poem is a lament.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does the chapter’s opening and closing matter for reading the whole passage?
Notice that Ezekiel calls it a lamentation at the start and again at the end, so the animal and vine images should be read as part of a mourning song.
02What repeated pattern do you see in the two lion cubs?
Both cubs become strong and dangerous, and both are then trapped and taken away by other nations.
03How does the vine image deepen the sadness of the lament?
The vine begins fruitful, well-watered and strong, but ends dried, burned and without any branch fit to rule.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 19:1–14
1“Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
3She brought up one of her cubs. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.
4The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5“ ‘Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.
6He went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.
7He knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities. The land was desolate with its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring.
8Then the nations attacked him on every side from the provinces. They spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit.
9They put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into strongholds, so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.
10“ ‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled. Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs. They were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.
12But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them.
13Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
14Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”