Song of Mourning for the Leaders of Israel

1“As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel 2and say,

‘[a]What was your mother?

A lioness among lions!

She lay down among young lions,

She raised her cubs.

3‘When she brought up one of her cubs,

He became a young lion,

And he learned to tear his prey;

He devoured people.

4‘Then nations heard about him;

He was caught in their trap,

And they brought him with hooks

To the land of Egypt.

5‘When she saw, as she waited,

That her hope was lost,

She took [b]another of her cubs

And made him a young lion.

6‘And he walked about among the lions,

He became a young lion;

He learned to tear his prey;

He devoured people.

7‘He [c]destroyed their [d]palaces

And laid waste their cities;

And the land and its fullness were appalled

Because of the sound of his roaring.

8‘Then nations set against him

On every side from their provinces,

And they spread their net over him;

He was caught in their trap.

9‘They put him in a [e]wooden collar with hooks

And brought him to the king of Babylon;

They brought him in hunting nets

So that his voice would no longer be heard

On the mountains of Israel.

10‘Your mother was like a vine in your [f]vineyard,

Planted by the waters;

It was fruitful and thick with branches

Because of abundant waters.

11‘And it had [g]strong stems fit for scepters of rulers,

And its height was raised above the clouds

So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

12‘But it was uprooted in fury;

It was thrown down to the ground;

And the east wind dried up its fruit.

[h]Its strong stem [i]was torn out

So that [j]it withered;

The fire consumed it.

13‘And now it is planted in the wilderness,

In a dry and thirsty land.

14‘And fire has gone out from its stem;

It has consumed its shoots and fruit,

So that there is no [k]strong stem in it,

A scepter to rule.’”

This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.