A Lament for the Princes of Israel
And you, lift up a lament for the leaders of Israel,
and say: What was your mother? A lioness. Among lions she lay down; in the midst of young lions she raised her cubs.
And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to tear prey — he devoured a man.
And the nations heard of him; in their pit he was caught, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
And she saw that she had waited, that her hope had perished; and she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
And he walked among the lions; he became a young lion and learned to tear prey — he devoured a man.
And he knew his widows, and their cities he laid in ruins; and the land was desolate, and its fullness, at the sound of his roaring.
And the nations set against him from all around, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; in their pit he was caught.
And they put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.
Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by waters; fruitful and full of branches she was, from the many waters.
And she had rods of strength for the scepters of rulers; and its height rose above the thick boughs, and it was seen in its height, in the abundance of its tendrils.
But she was uprooted in wrath, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her rods of strength were torn off and withered; fire devoured them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a land of drought and thirst.
And fire went out from a rod of her branches and devoured her fruit, and there is in her no rod of strength, no scepter for ruling. This is a lament, and it has become a lament.