J V 1. Lamentation.
W e 2,3. Young lion.
f 4. Taken.
e 5-7. Another young lion.
f 8,9. Taken.
W g 10,11. Vine [planted by waters].
h 12. Plucked up.
g 13. Vine [planted in desert].
h 14-. Devoured.
V -14. Lamentation.
483 B.C.
Ezekiel 19)
1 Moreover take you up a lamentation for the prince (Here, refers to Zedekiah.) of Israel, (Put here for Judah. See 1 Kings 12:17.)
2 And say, 'What is your mother? (probably Hamutal, one of the wives of Josiah, the mother of Shaullum [or Jehoahaz] and Zedekiah [2 Kings 23:31 and 24:18]. The other son of Josiah [Jehoiakim] had a different mother [Zebudah]. See 2 Kings 23:36) A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps (probably Jehoahaz [i.e. Shallum], the youngest son of Josiah, is intended [1 Chron. 3:15]): it became a young lion, and it learned to rend the prey; it devoured men.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit (as a lion is taken [Pss. 35:7; 36:1-4]), and they (i.e. Pharoah-necho [2 Kings 23:30-34. 2 Chron. 36:1-4]. Jeremiah laments his fate. See Jer. 22:10-12) brought him with chains 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 whelps (probably Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah [2 Kings 23:36. 2 Chron. 36:6]. Hardly Jehoiachin, who reigned only 3 months [2 Kings 24:8]. But Jehoiakim reigned 11 years, and his character corresponds with vv. 7,8, here. See 2Kings 23:35; 24:1-6. Jer; 22:11-19.), and made him a young lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7 And he knew (carnally. See 2 Chron. 36:8) their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. (See v.4)
9 And they put him in a cage with hooks (or hoops, as lions are represented on the monuments. See 2 Chron. 36:5-7. Jer. 22:13-19.), and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Your mother is like a vine in your blood (or, in your vineyard), planted by the waters (cp. Deut. 8:7): she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11 And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
13 And now (referring to Jeconiah and Ezekiel's own days [1:3; and 2 Kings 24:12-16]) she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14 And fire is gone out of the rod (i.e. Zedekiah, who by his perjury brought about the destruction of Jerusalem by fire) of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a scepter to rule.
This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.' "