A lamentation

1And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2and say:

What a lioness was your mother

among lions!

She couched in the midst of young lions,

rearing her whelps.

3And she brought up one of her whelps;

he became a young lion,

and he learned to catch prey;

he devoured men.

4The nations sounded an alarm against him;

he was taken in their pit;

and they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

5When she saw that she was baffled,19.5 Heb had waited

that her hope was lost,

she took another of her whelps

and made him a young lion.

6He prowled among the lions;

he became a young lion,

and he learned to catch prey;

he devoured men.

7And he ravaged their strongholds,19.7 Tg Compare Theodotion: Heb knew his widows

and laid waste their cities;

and the land was appalled and all who were in it

at the sound of his roaring.

8Then the nations set against him

snares19.8 Cn: Heb from the provinces on every side;

they spread their net over him;

he was taken in their pit.

9With hooks they put him in a cage,

and brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him into custody,

that his voice should no more be heard

upon 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

by reason of abundant water.

11Its strongest stem became

a ruler's sceptre;

it towered aloft

among the thick boughs;

it was seen in its height

with the mass of its branches.

12But the vine 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 in the wilderness,

in 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 a ruler.

This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.