Ezekiel 19

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 “And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel,	1 And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and you shall say: Why did your mother, the lioness, recline among the male lions, and raise her little ones in the midst of young lions?	2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She couched in the midst of young lions, rearing her whelps.
3 And she led away one of her little ones, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to consume men.	3 And she brought up one of her whelps; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.
4 And the Gentiles heard about him, and they seized him, but not without receiving wounds. And they led him away in chains to the land of Egypt.	4 The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5 Then, when she had seen that she was weakened, and that her hope had perished, she took one of her little ones, and appointed him as a lion.	5 When she saw that she was baffled, that her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion.
6 And he advanced among the lions, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to devour men.	6 He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.
7 He learned to make widows, and to lead their citizens into the desert. And the land, with its plenitude, was made desolate by the voice of his roaring.	7 And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their cities; and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring.
8 And the Gentiles came together against him, on every side, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; by their wounds, he was captured.	8 Then the nations set against him snares on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
9 And they put him into a cage; they led him in chains to the king of Babylon. And they cast him into a prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.	9 With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Your mother is like a vine, in your blood, planted by the water; her fruit and her branches have increased because of many waters.	10 Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water.
11 And her strong branches were made into scepters for the rulers, and her stature was exalted among the branches. And she saw her own loftiness among the multitude of her branches.	11 Its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.
12 But she was uprooted in wrath, and cast upon the ground. And the burning wind dried up her fruit. Her robust branches withered and were dried up. A fire consumed her.	12 But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it.
13 And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry.	13 Now it is transplanted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
14 And a fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which has consumed her fruit. And there is no strong branch in her to become a scepter for the rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be a lamentation.”	14 And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for a ruler. This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.