New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 As for you, raise up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
1
Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,
2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lay down among young lions, rearing 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 She raised up one of her cubs; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured humans.
3
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; he was caught in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
4
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 was thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
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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; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured people.
6
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 And he ravaged their strongholds, and laid waste their towns; the land was appalled, and all in it, 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 upon him from the provinces all around; they spread their net over him; 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 Babylon; they brought him into custody, so that his voice should be heard no more on the mountains of Israel.
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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 vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of branches from 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 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.
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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 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.
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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 Now it is transplanted into the wilderness, into a dry and thirsty land.
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And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.
14 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.
14
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.
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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.