✶Gnosis
← Contents
Theme
0821 / 1189

Listen

Dhammapada · narration sample

A one-minute narration sample. Every book in the library is narrated end to end — hear the rest in the app.

The Bible · 821 of 1189

Ezekiel 19

1.Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2. And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. 3. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. 4. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto 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, 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 their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness 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. 9. And they put him in ward in chains, 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.Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11. And she had strong rods for the sceptres 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 she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. 14. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Asked of Guide

Why does Ezekiel compare Israel’s leaders to lion whelps and a vine?

Ezekiel uses two images to show growth and failure: the lion-whelps are strong rulers who “learned to catch the prey” but are captured and silenced, and the vine is a once-fruitful nation whose “strong rods were broken and withered.” The poem traces rise, violent conquest, exile, and a ruined restoration, so the metaphors compress leadership, national power, and collapse into memorable scenes.

The chapter treats leadership as inherited strength that becomes vulnerable through violence and judgment; the lions’ capture and the vine’s drying are consequences of actions and of external conquest. This echoes Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s laments about kings and the nation, where flourishing is described with vineyard and royal imagery to explain loss.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.