1
And take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2
and thou shalt say, How hast thy mother, the lioness, lain down among the lions? She raised her whelps among the young lions.
3
And she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey and to devour men.
4
The Gentiles also heard of him; he was taken in their trap, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
5
Now when
she saw that she had waited a long time
and her hope was being lost, then she took another of her whelps
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.
7
And he knew their widows, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the voice of his roaring.
8
Then the Gentiles set against him on every side from the provinces and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9
And they put him in prison in chains and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into fortresses that his voice should no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10
Thy mother
was like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters, bearing fruit and spreading forth branches by reason of the many waters.