King James Version
Ezekiel 19
14 verses with commentary
A Lament for Israel's Princes
Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
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KJV Study Commentary
'Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel.' This chapter is a qinah (lament or funeral dirge) for Judah's failed kings. The Hebrew nasa' qinah ('take up a lamentation') indicates formal mourning poetry. The 'princes' (nesi'im) likely refer to Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin, two kings taken captive. The lament form is ironic—mourning leaders who are still physically alive but politica...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
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KJV Study Commentary
'And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.' The mother lioness represents Judah or Jerusalem, producing royal 'whelps' (cubs). Lions symbolize royalty and strength in ancient Near Eastern imagery. 'Lay down among lions...nourished her whelps among young lions' suggests Judah's integration with other powerful nations, perhaps indic...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Thy mother.**—Mother stands for the whole national community—the theocracy, as is plain from Ezekiel 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 Genesis 49:9; Numbers 23:24; Numbers 24:9), and was also familiar in B...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
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KJV Study Commentary
'And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.' The first cub, likely Jehoahaz, grew strong but became predatory—'devoured men' suggests oppressive, violent rule. The progression from nursing to devouring shows moral deterioration. What should have been protective leadership became destructive tyranny. This echoes prophetic critiqu...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **It became a young lion.**—There can be no doubt (see Ezekiel 19:4) of the reference of this to Jehoahaz. After the death of Josiah, “the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah . . . and made him king” (2Kings 23:30). In Ezekiel 19:6 Jehoiachin is also spoken of particularly. These two are mentioned as examples of all the other kings after Josiah. Jehoiakim and Zedekiah are simpl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
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KJV Study Commentary
'The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.' The young lion's fate: trapped and exiled. 'Taken in their pit' suggests capture through strategy, not merely military defeat. 'Chains unto...Egypt' describes Jehoahaz's humiliating deportation. The mighty lion reduced to a chained captive—complete reversal of royal expectations. Th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.**—Jehoahaz was conquered by Pharaohnecho, deposed, and carried captive (2Kings 23:33; 2Chronicles 36:4). “Chains” is literally *nose-rings, *keeping up the figure of the lion. In the first part of the verse also there is allusion to the custom of assembling the neighbourhood to secure a lion or other wild beast.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This verse continues Ezekiel's prophetic lament over Israel's kings, where the mother lioness represents Judah and her whelps symbolize the successive kings. The phrase "when she saw that she had waited" (<em>ra'ah yachal</em>) indicates a period of expectat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Another of her whelps.—**After the three months’ reign of Jehoahaz, his brother Jehoiakim was appointed king by Pharaoh (2Kings 23:34). He was conquered and “bound in fetters” by Nebuchadnezzar, with the intention of carrying him to Babylon (2Chronicles 36:7): he died, however, in disgrace in Jerusalem (2Kings 24:6; comp. Jeremiah 22:18-19), and was succeeded regularly by his son Jehoiachin ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
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KJV Study Commentary
'And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.' The second cub (likely Jehoiachin) follows the same pattern—growing strong, becoming predatory, devouring men. The repetition emphasizes that the second generation didn't learn from the first's fate. Same trajectory, same sins, same consequences. This tragic pattern reflects Judah's ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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. their desolate: or, their widows the fulness: or, all it containeth
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KJV Study Commentary
'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.' The young lion's predation causes comprehensive destruction—palaces, cities, land itself desolate. 'The noise of his roaring' suggests both terrifying power and empty boasting. The result: complete devastation. Oppressive leadership destroys the nat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Knew their desolate palaces.**—This verse continues to describe the abominations of Jehoiachin’s ways. The word “desolate palaces,” although defended by some authorities, should be rendered, as in the margin, *widows. *The mention of the king’s violation of these is an unavoidable departure from the figure, such as often occurs in Ezekiel.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
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KJV Study Commentary
'Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.' The nations (Babylon and allies) coordinate against the young lion. 'Set against him...from the provinces' indicates organized, widespread opposition. 'Spread their net...taken in their pit' uses hunting imagery—the predator becomes prey. God's sovereignty appears in Babyl...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **The nations.**—As in Ezekiel 19:4, for one nation: in that case Egypt, in this Babylon. The plural is naturally used, as several nations were concerned in the whole history, of which single particulars only are here mentioned.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
27-28. Repeated from Jr 30:10, 11. When the Church (and literal Israel) might seem utterly consumed, there still remains hidden hope, because God, as it were, raises His people from the dead (Ro 11:15). Whereas the godless "nations" are consumed even though they survive, as are the Egyptians after their overthrow; because they are radically accursed and doomed [Calvin].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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. in chains: or, in hooks
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KJV Study Commentary
'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.' The young lion's final fate: imprisoned, chained, brought to Babylon, silenced. 'That his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel' indicates permanent removal from power. The roaring lion becomes a mute ca...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Brought him to the king of Babylon.**—2Kings 24:8-17. Jehoiachin reigned only three months when Jerusalem was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. He “went out to the king of Babylon,” but only because he could not help doing so, and was carried to Babylon and put in prison, where he was still living at the time of this prophecy. It was not till many years later that he was released (Jeremiah 52:31-...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
27-28. Repeated from Jr 30:10, 11. When the Church (and literal Israel) might seem utterly consumed, there still remains hidden hope, because God, as it were, raises His people from the dead (Ro 11:15). Whereas the godless "nations" are consumed even though they survive, as are the Egyptians after their overthrow; because they are radically accursed and doomed [Calvin].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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. in: or, in thy quietness, or, in thy likeness
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KJV Study Commentary
'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.' The metaphor shifts from lioness to vine—Judah's royal house. 'In thy blood' is difficult (some translations read 'in thy vineyard' or 'in thy likeness'). 'Planted by the waters...fruitful and full of branches' describes former prosperity. The Davidic dynasty flourished ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **A vine in thy blood.**—The figure here changes to the more common one of a vine, yet by no means the “vine of low stature” of Ezekiel 17:6; it is rather a *strong and goodly vine. *The phrase “in thy blood” is obscure, and has occasioned much perplexity to the commentators. Some of the ancient versions and some manuscripts have modified the text; but the meaning seems to be, if the text is ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This verse continues Ezekiel's lament for Israel's princes, using the allegory of a vine. The "strong rods" (<em>mattot oz</em>, מַטּוֹת־עֹז) represent royal leaders who wielded scepters of authori...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Thick branches **should rather be translated *clouds. *It is a hyperbolical expression in the figure, to express the excellence of the vine of Israel.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 47 Jr 47:1-7. Prophecy against the Philistines.
1. Pharaoh-necho probably smote Gaza on his return after defeating Josiah at Megiddo (2Ch 35:20) [Grotius]. Or, Pharaoh-hophra (Jr 37:5, 7) is intended: probably on his return from his fruitless attempt to save Jerusalem from the Chaldeans, he smote Gaza in order that his expedition might not be thought altogether in vain [Calvin] (Am 1:6, 7...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
'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.' The vine's destruction: plucked up, cast down, dried by east wind, broken, withered, consumed by fire. This comprehensive devastation describes Jerusalem's fall. 'East wind' (qadiym) is the scorching desert wind, representing Bab...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **She was plucked up.**—With the captivity of Jehoiachin and a part of the people the desolation had begun. Much still remained to be accomplished, but it was now close at hand; and the prophet speaks of it in the past tense, as if he saw it already fulfilled.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. waters--**(Is 8:7). The Chaldeans from the north are compared to the overwhelming waters of their own Euphrates. The smiting of Gaza was to be only the prelude of a greater disaster to the Philistines. Nebuzara-dan was left by Nebuchadnezzar, after he had taken Jerusalem, to subdue the rest of the adjoining cities and country.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
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KJV Study Commentary
'And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.' The vine's new location: wilderness—opposite of 'planted by the waters' (verse 10). From abundance to scarcity, from fruitfulness to barrenness. 'Dry and thirsty ground' describes Babylon's literal desert climate and the spiritual desolation of exile. The once-flourishing royal house exists but doesn't thrive.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **In a dry and thirsty ground.**—Such was Babylon to Israel in its national relations, and even after the return from the exile the Jews never rose again to much importance among the nations of the earth; but meantime they were being disciplined, that at least a few of them might be prepared for the planting among them of that kingdom not of this world, spoken of at the close of Ezekiel 16, w...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. (Compare Jr 4:29).
**fathers ... not look back to ... children--**Each shall think only of his own safety, not even the fathers regarding their own children. So desperate shall be the calamity that men shall divest themselves of the natural affections.
**for feebleness of hands--**The hands, the principal instruments of action, shall have lost all power; their whole hope shall be in their f...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
'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.' The vine's own branches produce fire that consumes it—internal destruction. 'No strong rod to be a sceptre to rule' means no legitimate king. The final line affirms this as qinah (lamentation) for a dynasty th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Fire is gone out of a rod of her branches.—**The rods, as shown in Ezekiel 19:11, are the royal sceptres of her kings. It was by the sin and folly of these kings, together with the sins and follies of the whole people, that judgment was drawn down upon them. Many of them did their full share of the evil work; but a “rod” is here spoken of in the singular, with especial reference to the last...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. every helper--**The Philistines, being neighbors to the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon, would naturally make common cause with them in the case of invasion. These cities would have no helper left when the Philistines should be destroyed.
**Caphtor--**the Caphtorim and Philistines both came from Mizraim (Ge 10:13, 14). The Philistines are said to have been delivered by God from Caphtor (Am 9:...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 19
A parable lamenting the ruin of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. (Ezek 19:1-9) Another describing the desolation of the people. (Ezek 19:10-14)
**Verses 1-9** Ezekiel is to compare the kingdom of Judah to a lioness. He must compare the kings of Judah to a lion's whelps; they were cruel and oppressive to their own subjects. The righteousness of God is to be acknowledged, when those who have...
Read full commentary →