[1] Moreover take up a lamentation for the officials of Israel, [2] and say: What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions; she nourished her whelps. [3] When she brought up one of her whelps, he became a lion and learned to catch his prey; he devoured men. [4] The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. [5] Now when she saw as she had waited that her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps and made him a young lion. [6] He went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. [7] He destroyed their fortified palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land and its fullness were appalled by the noise of his roaring. [8] Then the nations set against him on every side from their provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken 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 vineyard, planted by the waters; it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. [11] It had strong rods for the scepters of those who rule. And its stature was exalted above the clouds, so it appeared in its height with the multitude 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 strong rod was broken and it withered; the fire consumed it. [13] Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. [14] Fire has gone out from its branch; it has devoured its shoots and fruit, so that there is no strong rod in it, a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
