Ezekiel 20
A Lamentation for the
Princes of Israel |
1 |
Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for
the princes of Israel,
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2 |
and say,
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What is thy mother? A lioness: |
she lay down among lions, |
she nourished her whelps |
among young
lions. |
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3 |
And she brought up one of her whelps:
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it became a young lion, |
and it learned to catch the prey; |
it devoured
men. |
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4 |
The nations also heard of him;
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he was taken in their pit, |
and they brought him with chains unto the land of
Egypt. |
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5 |
Now when she saw that she had waited,
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and her hope was lost, |
then she took another of her whelps, |
and made him a young
lion. |
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6 |
And he went up and down among the
lions,
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he became a young lion, |
and learned to catch the prey, |
and devoured
men. |
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7 |
And he knew their desolate palaces,
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and he laid waste their cities; |
and the land was desolate, and the fulness
thereof, |
by the noise of his
roaring. |
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8 |
Then the nations set against him
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on every side from the provinces, |
and spread their net over him: |
he was taken in their
pit. |
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9 |
And they put him in ward in chains,
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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.
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10 |
Thy mother is like a vine in thy
blood,
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planted by the waters: |
she was fruitful and full of branches |
by reason of many
waters. |
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11 |
And she had strong rods for the sceptres
of them that bare rule,
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and her stature was exalted among the thick
branches, |
and she appeared in her height with the multitude of
her
branches. |
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12 |
But she was plucked up in fury,
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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. |
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13 |
And now she is planted in the
wilderness,
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in a dry and thirsty
ground. |
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14 |
And fire is gone out of a rod of her
branches,
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which hath devoured her fruit, |
so that she hath no strong rod |
to be a sceptre to rule.
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This is a lamentation, and
shall be for a
lamentation.
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