The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Moreover, raise a lament for the leaders of Isra'el;
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Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,
2 say: 'What a mother you had a lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions and reared her cubs.
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What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones.
3 One of her cubs she singled out: he became a young lion, he learned to seize his prey, he became a man-eater.
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And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
4 The nations sounded an alarm against him; and he was caught in their pit. With hooks they dragged him off to the land of Egypt.
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And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.
5 When she saw that she had been thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made a young lion of him.
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Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.
6 He prowled among the lions, grew to be a young lion, learned to seize his prey and became a man-eater.
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And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
7 He raped their widows and destroyed their cities; the land and all in it were appalled at the sound of his roaring.
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And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.
8 The nations set a snare for him from the provinces all around, they spread their net over him, and he was caught in their pit.
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Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.
9 With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Bavel to imprison him in a fortress, so that his roar would be heard no more on the mountains of Isra'el.
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They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.
10 "'Your mother was like a strong grapevine planted by the water. It was fruitful and luxuriant because of the abundant water.
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Your mother was in comparison like a vine, planted by the waters: she was fertile and full of branches because of the great waters.
11 It had strong branches to be used as scepters by rulers; besides having thick foliage, it grew taller and taller, until its height was noticed, with its mass of branches.
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And she had a strong rod for a rod of authority for the rulers, and it became tall among the clouds and it was seen lifted up among the number of its branches.
12 But it was torn up in fury and flung on the ground. An east wind withered her fruit, her strong branches were broken off; they dried up; and fire consumed the vine.
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But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.
13 It has been transplanted to the desert, to a dry, thirsty land.
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And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.
14 Fire has gone out from its own branches, burning up its fruit, so that now it has no strong branch to be a ruler's scepter.'" This lamentation became very well known.
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And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.