Ezekiel 19
A funeral song about Israel's leaders
“Your mother was like a great
She lay among strong young lions.
She helped her children to grow safely.
As he grew, he started to eat people.
They dug a hole and they caught him in their
They put
and they took him to Egypt.
He did not come
and she no longer hoped to see him again.
She helped another of her sons to become a strong young lion.
He learned to catch wild animals and to eat them.
He also learned to eat people.
and he destroyed their cities.
When he
the noise frightened everyone in the land.
They threw a
They caught him in their trap.
They took him to the king of Babylon.
There they put him in prison to stop him roaring.
The people on the hills of Israel could not hear his voice any longer.
It grew well because there was plenty of water there.
It made many branches and it had a lot of fruit.
They were strong enough to make a ruler's stick.
The vine grew taller than all the other trees around it.
Everyone could see that it was very tall and strong.
He pulled up its
and he threw it down to the ground.
The east wind made it dry and destroyed its fruit.
Its strong branches broke and they became
Fire destroyed them.
It is in a hot, dry place where there is no water.
From there the fire destroyed its other branches and its fruit.
No strong branch remained in the vine.
Now there was nothing that could make a ruler's stick.”
This is a funeral song. It tells a very sad story.’