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A Lament Over Israel’s Princes 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 them 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 became a man-eater.

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 became a man-eater.

⁷ He broke down Targum (see Septuagint); Hebrew He knew a 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 Two Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts your blood b 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 Or from under its c 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.”