And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
And say, What is thy mother? - the mother of Jehoiachin, the representative of David's line, who was then in exile with Ezekiel. The "mother" is Judea: "a lioness," as being fierce in catching prey (Ezekiel 19:3), referring to her paganish practices. Jerusalem was called Ariel (the lion of God) in a good sense (Isaiah 29:1); and Judah "a lion's whelp ... a lion ... an old lion" (Genesis 49:9), to which, as also to Numbers 23:24; Numbers 24:9, this passage alludes.
She nourished her whelps among young lions she herself had "lain" among lions ie had contact with She nourished her whelps among young lions - she herself had "lain" among lions - i:e., had contact with the corruptions of the surrounding pagan, and had brought up the royal young ones similarly-utterly degenerate from the stock of Abraham. "Lay down," or "couched," is appropriate to the lion, the Arab name of which means 'the coucher.'