Israel Degraded
1 “Moreovertake up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and say:
‘Whatisyour mother? A lioness:
She lay down among the lions;
Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
3 She brought up one of her cubs,
# Andhe became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey,
And he devoured men.
4 The nations also heard of him;
He was trapped in their pit,
# And they brought him with chains to the land ofEgypt.
5 ‘When she saw that she waited,thather hope was lost,
# She tookanother of her cubsandmade him a young lion.
6 He roved among the lions,
# Andbecame a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
7 He knew their desolate places,
And laid waste their cities;
The land with its fullness was desolated
By the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side,
And spread their net over him;
# He was trapped in their pit.
9 They put him in a cage with chains,
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in nets,
# That his voice should no longer be heard onthe mountains of Israel.
10 ‘Your motherwaslike a vine in your bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
# Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
11 She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
# She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the dense foliage.
12 But she wasplucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
# And theeast wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The fire consumed them.
13 And now sheisplanted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14 Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
Anddevoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch— a scepter for ruling.’ ”
# Thisisa lamentation, and has become a lamentation.