A Lament for the Princes of Israel

1“And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel,

2and you shall say: Why did your mother, the lioness, recline among the male lions, and raise her little ones in the midst of young lions?

3And she led away one of her little ones, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to consume men.

4And the Gentiles heard about him, and they seized him, but not without receiving wounds. And they led him away in chains to the land of Egypt.

5Then, when she had seen that she was weakened, and that her hope had perished, she took one of her little ones, and appointed him as a lion.

6And he advanced among the lions, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to devour men.

7He learned to make widows, and to lead their citizens into the desert. And the land, with its plenitude, was made desolate by the voice of his roaring.

8And the Gentiles came together against him, on every side, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; by their wounds, he was captured.

9And they put him into a cage; they led him in chains to the king of Babylon. And they cast him into a prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

10Your mother is like a vine, in your blood, planted by the water; her fruit and her branches have increased because of many waters.

11And her strong branches were made into scepters for the rulers, and her stature was exalted among the branches. And she saw her own loftiness among the multitude of her branches.

12But she was uprooted in wrath, and cast upon the ground. And the burning wind dried up her fruit. Her robust branches withered and were dried up. A fire consumed her.

13And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry.

14And a fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which has consumed her fruit. And there is no strong branch in her to become a scepter for the rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be a lamentation.”