Discovery BoxEzekiel 19:10-14 
Context19:10 “‘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.”
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.
2 tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.
3 tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”
4 sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.
5 sn This metaphor depicts the Babylonian exile of the Davidic dynasty.
6 tn The verse describes the similar situation recorded in Judg 9:20.
