Literary Context
These verses sit inside a lament that speaks in animal imagery about Judah’s leadership and its collapse (the larger poem begins at Ezekiel 19:1). The “mother” and her “cubs” present a royal household as a lioness raising potential rulers. The poem’s logic is simple and sequential: one cub is raised, becomes powerful, turns predatory, draws international attention, and is captured. The point is not to describe wildlife, but to portray a political rise-and-fall in vivid, mournful images.