1And you, lift up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2and you shall say: What was your mother? A lioness; among lions she crouched, in the midst of young lions she reared her whelps.
3And she brought up one of her whelps; a young lion it became, and it learned to tear prey; man (adam) it devoured.
4And the nations heard of him; in their pit he was caught, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
5And she saw that she had waited, that her hope was lost, and she took one of her whelps, a young lion she made him.
6And he went about in the midst of lions; a young lion he became, and he learned to tear prey; man (adam) he devoured.
7And he knew his widows, and their cities he laid waste; and the land was made desolate, and its fullness, because of the sound of his roaring.
8And the nations set against him from around, from the provinces, and they spread over him their net; in their pit he was caught.
9And they put him in a cage with hooks, and they brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, in order that his voice might no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10Your mother was like a vine, in your blood, planted by waters; fruitful and full of branches it was, from many waters.
11And it had rods of strength, for scepters of rulers; and its stature was high above among the thick branches, and it was seen in its height, in the multitude of its branches.
12But it was plucked up in fury, to the ground it was cast, and the spirit (ruach) of the east dried up its fruit; its rods of strength were broken off and withered; fire consumed it.
13And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a land of dryness and thirst.
14And fire has gone out from a rod of its branches; its fruit it has consumed, and there is not in it a rod of strength, a scepter to rule. A lamentation it is, and it became for a lamentation.