^1. «AS for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel

^2. and say, " [1] What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She reared her cubs.

^3. "When she brought up one of her cubs, He became a lion, And he learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.

^4. "Then nations heard about him; He was captured in their pit, And they brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt.

^5. "When she saw, as she waited, That her hope was lost, She took [2] another of her cubs And made him a young lion.

^6. "And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.

^7. "He [4] destroyed their [3] fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.

^8. "Then nations set against him On every side from their provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.

^9. " They 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.

^10. "Your mother was like a vine in your [5] vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.

^11. "And it had [6] 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.

^12. "But it was plucked up in fury; It was cast down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its [9] strong branch [8] was torn off So that [7] it withered; The fire consumed it.

^13. "And now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

^14. "And fire has gone out from its branch; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is not in it a [10] strong branch, A scepter to rule.'» This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation. 20