Bible Strands
Ezekiel 19:5
When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel addresses the exiled community of Israel, continuing a formal lament over the fallen royal house of Judah. He shifts from the capture of the first king to Egypt to the immediate political response of the royal family.
The words — The Hebrew verb נֽוֹחֲלָה (no.cha.Lah) literally means she waited or hoped, paired with אָבְדָה ('a.ve.Dah) to state that expectation was lost. The narrative then records the mother taking another of her cubs to elevate him to royal power.
The thread — This sequence of substituted leadership mirrors the earlier description in Ezekiel 19:3 and aligns with the historical succession in 2 Kings 23:34. The pattern of abandoned hope and human replacement recurs in the prophetic critique of Judah’s monarchy.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that political maneuvering replaces covenant reliance, producing repeated cycles of failure. It calls for an assessment of whether leadership derives from divine appointment or merely from human substitution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 23:34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.
- Ezekiel 19:3 She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.