1 And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She couched in the midst of young lions, rearing her whelps.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.
4 The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5 When she saw that she was baffled, that her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion.
6 He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.
7 And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their cities; and the land was appalled and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him snares on every side; they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
9 With 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.
10 Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water.
11 Its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.
12 But 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.
13 Now it is transplanted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
14 And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for a ruler. This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.