1 “And you, lift up a lamentation to princes of Israel, 2 and you have said: What is your mother? A lioness, || She has crouched down among lions, || She has multiplied her whelps in the midst of young lions. 3 And she brings up one of her whelps, || He has been a young lion, || And he learns to tear prey, || He has devoured man. 4 And nations hear of him, || He has been caught in their pit, || And they bring him to the land of Egypt in chains. 5 And as she waited she sees that her hope has perished, || And she takes one of her whelps, || She has made him a young lion. 6 And he goes up and down in the midst of lions, || He has been a young lion, || And he learns to tear prey, || He has devoured man. 7 And he knows his forsaken habitations, || And he has laid waste to their cities, || And the land and its fullness is desolate, || Because of the voice of his roaring. 8 And surrounding nations set against him from the provinces. And they spread out their net for him, || He has been caught in their pit. 9 And they put him in prison—in chains, || And they bring him to the king of Babylon, || They bring him into bulwarks, || So that his voice is not heard || On mountains of Israel anymore. 10 Your mother, like the vine in your blood, || Is being planted by waters, || She was bearing fruit and full of boughs, || Because of many waters. 11 And she has strong rods for scepters of rulers, || And she is high in stature above—between thick branches, || And it appears in its height || In the multitude of its thin shoots. 12 And she is plucked up in fury, || She has been cast to the earth, || And the east wind has dried up her fruit, || The rod of her strength has been broken and withered, || Fire has consumed it. 13 And now she is planted in a wilderness, || In a dry and thirsty land. 14 And fire goes out from a rod of her boughs, || It has devoured her fruit, || And she has no rod of strength—a scepter to rule, || A lamentation—and she has become for a lamentation!”