King James Version KJV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
1
As for you, raise up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
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and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing her cubs.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
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She raised up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured humans.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
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The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was caught in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
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When she saw that she was thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
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He prowled among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured people.
7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
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And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their towns; the land was appalled, and all in it, at the sound of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
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The nations set upon him from the provinces all around; they spread their net over him; he was caught in their pit.
9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
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With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, so that his voice should be heard no more on the mountains of Israel.
10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
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Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches from abundant water.
11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
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Its strongest stem became a ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it stood out in its height with its mass of branches.
12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
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But it was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried it up; its fruit was stripped off, its strong stem was withered; the fire consumed it.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
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Now it is transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land.
14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
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And fire has gone out from its stem, has consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling. This is a lamentation, and it is used as a lamentation.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.