Israel Degraded

1As for you, raise up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2and say:

What a lioness was your mother

among lions!

She lay down among young lions,

rearing her cubs.

3She raised up one of her cubs;

he became a young lion,

and he learned to catch prey;

he devoured humans.

4The nations sounded an alarm against him;

he was caught in their pit;

and they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

5When she saw that she was thwarted,

that her hope was lost,

she took another of her cubs

and made him a young lion.

6He prowled among the lions;

he became a young lion,

and he learned to catch prey;

he devoured people.

7And he ravaged their strongholds,19.7 Heb his widows

and laid waste their towns;

the land was appalled, and all in it,

at the sound of his roaring.

8The nations set upon him

from the provinces all around;

they spread their net over him;

he was caught in their pit.

9With hooks they put him in a cage,

and brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him into custody,

so that his voice should be heard no more

on the mountains of Israel.

10Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard19.10 Cn: Heb in your blood

transplanted by the water,

fruitful and full of branches

from abundant water.

11Its strongest stem became

a ruler's sceptre;19.11 Heb Its strongest stems became rulers' sceptres

it towered aloft

among the thick boughs;

it stood out in its height

with its mass of branches.

12But it was plucked up in fury,

cast down to the ground;

the east wind dried it up;

its fruit was stripped off,

its strong stem was withered;

the fire consumed it.

13Now it is transplanted into the wilderness,

into a dry and thirsty land.

14And fire has gone out from its stem,

has consumed its branches and fruit,

so that there remains in it no strong stem,

no sceptre for ruling.

This is a lamentation, and it is used as a lamentation.