But you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

And say, What was your mother? A lioness among lions. She lay in the midst of young lions; She brought up her whelps.

When she raised up one of her whelps, He became a young lion; And he learned to take prey; He devoured men.

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

When she saw that she had waited, That her hope was lost, She took another one of her whelps; She made him a young lion.

And he went about among the lions; He became a young lion. And he learned to take prey; He devoured men.

And he destroyed their citadels And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were horrified At the sound of his roaring.

Then the nations set against him All around from the provinces And spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.

And they put him in a cage with hooks And brought him to the king of Babylon-They brought him into strongholds-That his voice would no longer be heard Upon the mountains of Israel.

Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Transplanted beside the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.

And it had strong branches For scepters of those who rule; And its height was exalted among the leafy boughs, And it was visible in its height because of the multitude of its branches.

But it was plucked up in wrath; It was cast down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit; Its strong branch was broken off and it withered; The fire consumed it.

And now it is transplanted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

And fire has gone forth from its branch; It has consumed its offshoots and its fruit, So that there is no strong branch in it, A scepter to rule. This is a lamentation and it has become a lamentation.