^1. "Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel

^2. and say: "`What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among the young lions and reared her cubs.

^3. She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.

^4. The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

^5. "`When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

^6. He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.

^7. He broke down [1] their strongholds and devastated their towns. The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring.

^8. Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about. They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit.

^9. With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.

^10. "`Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard [2] planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.

^11. Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler's scepter. It towered high above the thick foliage, conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.

^12. But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel, it was stripped of its fruit; its strong branches withered and fire consumed them.

^13. Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land.

^14. Fire spread from one of its main [3] branches and consumed its fruit. No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler's scepter.' This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."