Ezekiel 19:10-14

19:10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, ¹  planted by water.

It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.

19:11 Its boughs were strong, fit ²  for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds.

It stood out because of its height and its many branches. ³ 

19:12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.

The east wind ⁴  dried up its fruit;

its strong branches broke off and withered –

a fire consumed them.

19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,

in a dry and thirsty land. ⁵ 

19:14 A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ⁶ 

No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’

This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

[19:10]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב-כ (beth-kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.

[19:11]  ² tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.

[19:11]  ³ tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”

[19:12]  ⁴ sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.

[19:13]  ⁵ sn This metaphor depicts the Babylonian exile of the Davidic dynasty.

[19:14]  ⁶ tn The verse describes the similar situation recorded in Judg 9:20.