1"As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel
2and say, What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She reared her cubs.
3When she brought up one of her cubs, He became a lion, And he learned to tear [his] prey; He devoured men.
4Then nations heard about him; He was captured in their pit, And they brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt.
5When she saw, as she waited, [That] her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs And made him a young lion.
6And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear [his] prey; He devoured men.
7He destroyed their fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.
8Then nations set against him On every side from [their] provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.
9They put him in a cage with hooks And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in hunting nets So that his voice would be heard no more On the mountains of Israel.
10Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.
11And it had strong branches [fit] for scepters of rulers, And its height was raised above the clouds So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.
12But it was plucked up in fury; It was cast down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branch was torn off So that it withered; The fire consumed it.
13And now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.
14And fire has gone out from [its] branch; It has consumed its shoots [and] fruit, So that there is not in it a strong branch, A scepter to rule.'" This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
