Ezekiel 19:2
in Ezekiel 19and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps.
KJV
And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
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This verse in Ezekiel 19
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd say, what is thy mother?.... That is, say so to the then reigning prince, Zedekiah, what is thy mother like? to what is she to be compared? by whom is meant, not the royal family of David only, or Jerusalem the metropolis of the nation, but the whole body of the people; and so the Targum interprets it of the congregation of Israel.
This site's exposition
a lamentation for the princes of Israel
on Ezekiel 19:1-2
A qinah, the meter of grief, is set over the house of David before a single line names its wrong. The mother is Judah, pictured as a lioness among lions. Henry reads the whole chapter as a dirge sung in advance, mourning kings who had not yet finished reigning.
This site's exposition
A lioness among the lions
The lion is Judah's emblem from Jacob's blessing at Genesis 49:9, where the tribe crouches like a lion's cub. Calvin notes the figure turns here toward insolence. Wesley reads the lions she lay among as the neighbour kings whose ways Judah's house took up.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 19, verses 1 onwards) And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: Why did your mother, a lioness, lie down among lions? In the midst of young lions she raised her cubs. And one of her cubs grew up, he became a lion and learned to catch prey and devour men. The nations heard about him and captured him in their own traps, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.
The Reformation1 voice
He calls the nation itself a lioness: for when he treats of the mother of the people, we know that the offspring is considered. He says, therefore, that the people was full of insolence. The comparison to a lion is sometimes taken in a good sense, as when Moses uses it of the tribe of Judea, as a lion's whelp shall he lie down, (Genesis 49:9,) a, phrase used in a good sense.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Mother - The land of Judea, and Jerusalem, the chief city of it, the royal family of David. Lioness - Tho' chosen of God to execute justice; yet they soon degenerated into the fierce and ravening nature of the lioness. Lay down - Associated, and grew familiar with neighbour kings, called here lions; fierce and bloody.
What is thy mother? thine, O king? (we read of Solomon's crown wherewith his mother crowned him, that is, his people, Cant. iii. The royal family is as a mother to the kingdom, a nursing mother.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
That kingdom and that house are here compared to a vine, and these princes to branches, which had been strong and flourishing, but were now broken off and burnt,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
24:9, this passage alludes. nourished . . . among young lions--She herself had "lain" among lions, that is, had intercourse with the corruptions of the surrounding heathen and had brought up the royal young ones similarly: utterly degenerate from the stock of Abraham. Lay down--or "couched," is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of which means "the coucher."
What is thy mother? A lioness - Judea may here be the mother; the lioness, Jerusalem. Her lying down among lions, her having confederacy with the neighboring kings; for lion here means king.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thy mother - The people represented by Judah. Compare Gen 49:9; Num 23:24.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָמַרְתָּ֗ | veamarta | and you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מָ֤ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אִמְּךָ֙ | ʾimekha | [was] mother your | H517 → | 220 times |
| לְבִיָּ֔א | leviya' | a lioness | H3833 → | |
| בֵּ֥ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| אֲרָי֖וֹת | ʾarayot | lions | H738 → | 80 times |
| רָבָ֑צָה | ravatzah | she lay down | H7257 → | 30 times |
| בְּת֥וֹךְ | betokh | in among | H8432 → | 418 times |
| כְּפִרִ֖ים | kefirim | young lions | H3715 → | 32 times |
| רִבְּתָ֥ה | ribetah | she reared | H7235 → | 227 times |
| גוּרֶֽיהָ׃ | gureiha | cubs her | H1482 → | 7 times |
וְאָמַרְתָּ֗and you will say
veamartaH559 →5305 times
מָ֤הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אִמְּךָ֙[was] mother your
ʾimekhaH517 →220 times
לְבִיָּ֔אa lioness
leviya'H3833 →
בֵּ֥יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
אֲרָי֖וֹתlions
ʾarayotH738 →80 times
רָבָ֑צָהshe lay down
ravatzahH7257 →30 times
בְּת֥וֹךְin among
betokhH8432 →418 times
כְּפִרִ֖יםyoung lions
kefirimH3715 →32 times
רִבְּתָ֥הshe reared
ribetahH7235 →227 times
גוּרֶֽיהָ׃cubs her
gureihaH1482 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 58:6O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.
it leads to
- Psalms 3:7
Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- Hosea 5:14
For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them…
- Psalms 17:12
like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
- Job 4:10–11
The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- Psalms 10:15
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.
- Psalms 3:7
Through
Zechariah 11:3Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:44
Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one…
- Jeremiah 25:34–36
Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.
- Jeremiah 50:44
Through
Job 4:11The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:10
Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
- Psalms 34:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.