Two Lamentation Songs
19 “As for you, raise a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and say: ‘What was your mother?
A lioness!
Among lions she couched,
among young lions she reared her cubs.
3 When she raised up one of her cubs,
he became a young lion.
When he learned to tear prey,
he devoured people.
4 When the nations heard about him,
he was caught in their pit.
They brought him with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
5 When she saw that she waited in vain,
her hope was lost.
So she took another cub
and made him a young lion.
6 He prowled among the lions.
He became a young lion,
learned to catch prey,
devoured men.
7 He ravaged their widows
and laid waste their cities.
The land and all who were in it
were terrified from his roaring.
8 The nations gathered against him
on every side from the provinces.
They spread their net over him.
He was caught in their pit.
9 They put him in a cage with hooks
and brought him to the king of Babylon.
They brought him in hunting nets.
So his roar was no longer heard
on the mountains of Israel.
10 “Your mother was like a vine in your blood,
planted by the water.
It was fruitful and full of branches
because of abundant water.
11 Its strong rods became rulers’ scepters.
Its height was exalted above the clouds.
It was seen in its height
with the mass of its branches.
12 But it was uprooted in fury.
It was cast down to the ground.
The east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branches were broken off and dried up—
fire consumed it.
13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.
14 Fire has spread from its main branch
and devoured its fruit.
No strong branch is left on it
to become a ruler’s scepter.”
This is a lamentation, and it is to be used as a lamentation.