and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
Parallel Translations
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and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
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And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
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and say: How was thy mother a lioness; among lions she couched, in the midst of the young lions she reared her whelps!
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 19:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 4:11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
- Psalms 58:6 Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
- Isaiah 5:29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.
- Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
- Nahum 2:11-12 Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid? The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.
- Zephaniah 3:1-4 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in Yahweh. She didn’t draw near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day. Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
- Zechariah 11:3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He says next, that their mother lay down among…
He says next, that their mother lay down among lions, alluding to the people’s origin from lions, as we said before, when the Prophet calls Judea the descendant of Canaan, and the sister of Sodom and Samaria. When he now says, their mother lay down among lions, he means that they were shamefully mixed with the corruption of the Gentiles, so that they did not differ from them. But God had chosen them as his peculiar people on the very condition of being separate from all the filth of the Gentiles. There was, therefore, a certain withdrawing of God’s favor when the mother of the people lay down among the lions, that is, when they all promiscuously gave themselves up to the perverse morals and superstitions of the Gentiles. He says, that she brought up whelps, or young lions, which she produced to these lions; since their origin was impure, being all Abraham’s children, but, as I have said, a degenerate race. He afterwards adds, that the lion’s whelp, or young lion, grew up till it became a lion: then it learnt to seize prey, says he, and to devour men. He refers to King Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, (2 Kings 23:30-32:) but he had before asserted that the whole people had a lion’s disposition, and that the princes, who were more exalted, were like whelps. As only one lion is here brought forward, it ought to be referred to the violence by which that wicked king manifested his real disposition. But if it be asked whence the lion went forth, the reply is, from amidst his brethren, for they were all lions’ whelps, or young lions. They could not administer the government either together or singly, but each devoured his brother, and was devoted to robbery and rapine. The king only, because freed from all fear, could surpass the rest in rapine and robbery with impunity. We see, then, that not only the king was here condemned, but that he becomes the type of the whole nation; because, since no one could restrain his passions, he could rob and devour mankind with unbridled freedom.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To wit, Jehoahaz’s mother, or Jerusalem.
To wit, Jehoahaz’s mother, or Jerusalem.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 19:2 And say, What [is] thy mother? A…
Eze 19:2 And say, What [is] thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
Ver. 2. What is thy mother?] Whereby is meant thy city of Jerusalem and people of the Jews, who took these four for their kings, and soon had enough of them.
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A lioness.] So called for her nobleness, courage, and cruelty.
She lay down among lions.] Alludit ad coitum It signifieth that this state, by conversing with other heathen princes, had been corrupted by them and conformed unto them.
She nourished her whelps among young lions.] From whom they took in but few good principles for young princes. Wickedness is soon learned Of a certain prince of Germany it was said, Esset alius si esset apud alios, his company undid him: So it did Julian the apostate.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain What resemblance shall I use to set out the…
What resemblance shall I use to set out the nature, deportment, and state of the mother of these princes? an unhappy mother of unhappy children! Or, Alas! thy mother, &c.
Thy; one of these was upon the throne at once, and therefore the prophet speaks to one at a time, in the singular number. Mother; the land of Judea and Jerusalem, the chief city of it, the royal family of David.
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A lioness; though chosen of God to execute justice, defend the poor, to be his vicegerents, and to delight in mercy; yet once advanced, they soon degenerated into the fierce and ravening nature of the lioness, and as violently seized the prey.
She lay down; associated, couched, and grew familiar with, by leagues, commerce, and intermixture of marriages with neighbour kings, called here lions: thou didst learn their manners, and grewest fierce and bloody, as they.
She nourished: the Hebrew includes both her bringing forth many, and her advancing them to greatness: the royal family of flat nation had many kings, and some very great, but the time the prophet points now at in particular was after Josiah, whose character, given Jer 22:16, is, that he judged the poor and needy, but his successors were of another temper, as Jer 22:13-15,17.
Her whelps, i.e. her sons, successors to the crown, which could be called nothing else, to keep the decorum of the parable.
Among young lions; either foreign princes and kings, or else some of the fiercer, unjuster, aspiring, and tyrannizing princes at home; for such there were in these, as well as in Rehoboam’s times, who would have the son’s finger thicker than the father’s loins.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And say, what is thy mother?.... That is, say…
And 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. The answer to the question is,
a lioness; she is like to one, not for her strength and glory, but for her cruelty and rapine; for her want of humanity, mercy, and justice:
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she lay down among lions; that is, kings, as the Targum interprets it Heathen princes, the kings of the nations about them, as of Egypt and Babylon, Jer 50:17; so called for their despotic and arbitrary power, tyranny, and cruelty: now this lioness, the people of the Jews, lay down among them, joined with them in leagues and marriages, and learned their manners, and became of the same temper and disposition:
she nourisheth her whelps among young lions; princes, as the Targum explains it; either the princes of Judah, who were become like young lions, fierce and cruel; or the princes of other nations, among whom the children of the royal family were brought up; or, however, they were trained up in the principles of such, even of arbitrary and despotic power, and were taught to oppress their subjects, and not execute justice and mercy among them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain What - What resemblance shall I use to set…
What - What resemblance shall I use to set out the nature, deportment, and state of the mother of these princes? Thy - One of whom was upon the throne at once, and therefore the prophet speaks to one at a time. 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. Her whelps - Her sons, successors to the crown. Young lions - Either foreign princes and kings, or some of the fierce, unjust, tyrannizing princes at home.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. What is thy mother? A lioness] Judea…
Verse 2. 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 neighbouring kings; for lion here means king.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy mother - The people represented by Judah. Compare…
Thy mother - The people represented by Judah. Compare Gen 49:9; Num 23:24.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lioness; Jerusalem (Challoner) which made alliances with the lions,…
Lioness; Jerusalem (Challoner) which made alliances with the lions, or nations. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain thy mother--the mother of Jehoiachin, the representative of David's…
thy mother--the mother of Jehoiachin, the representative of David's line in exile with Ezekiel. The "mother" is Judea: "a lioness," as being fierce in catching prey (Eze 19:3), referring to her heathenish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel (the lion of God) in a good sense (Isa 29:1); and Judah "a lion's whelp . . . a lion . . . an old lion" (Gen 49:9), to which, as also to Num 23:24; Num 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.
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Lay down--or "couched," is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of which means "the coucher."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Thy mother.—Mother stands for the whole national community—the…
(2) Thy mother.—Mother stands for the whole national community—the theocracy, as is plain from Eze_19:10. This was represented, since the captivity of the ten tribes, by Judah; and her “princes,” of the line of David, were the legitimate kings of the whole nation. The figure of the lion is a common one in Scripture (see Gen_49:9; Num_23:24; Num_24:9), and was also familiar in Babylonia.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain What is thy mother? etc.; better, with the Vulgate,…
What is thy mother? etc.; better, with the Vulgate, LXX, and Keil, Why did thy mother, a lioness, lie down among lionesses? The image may have been suggested by Gen_49:9 and Num_23:24, or perhaps also by Nah_2:11, Nah_2:12. The lioness is Israel, the kingdom idealized and personified. The lionesses among whom she had lain down are the heathen kingdoms. The question asks why she had become as one of them and adopted their cruelty and ferocity.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 19:2-4 The first picture is of a lioness and…
19:2-4 The first picture is of a lioness and one of her cubs, whom she chose as the leader of her pack. This cub represented Jehoahaz, who reigned for a mere three months before being carried to Egypt by Pharaoh Neco (2 Kgs 23:33-34). • hunt . . . devour prey . . . man-eater: The prophet characterizes Jehoahaz’s brief reign in entirely negative terms. • Lions were traditionally hunted with a net and a pit, here a metaphor for the violent way that Jehoahaz would be carried away to Egypt.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.