[1] And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, [2] and say:
What a lioness was your mother among lions! She couched in the midst of
young lions, rearing her whelps. [3] And she brought up one of her whelps;
he became a young lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. [4]
The nations sounded an alarm against him; he was taken in their pit; and
they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. [5] When she saw that she
was baffled, that her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps and
made him a young lion. [6] He prowled among the lions; he became a young
lion, and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men. [7] And he ravaged
their strongholds, and laid waste their cities; and the land was appalled
and all who were in it at the sound of his roaring. [8] Then the nations
set against him snares on every side; they spread their net over him; he
was taken in their pit. [9] With hooks they put him in a cage, and brought
him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into custody, that his voice
should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. [10] Your mother was
like a vine in a vineyard transplanted by the water, fruitful and full of
branches by reason of abundant water. [11] Its strongest stem became a
ruler's scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in
its height with the mass of its branches. [12] But the vine 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] Now
it is transplanted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. [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 a ruler.  This is a
lamentation, and has become a lamentation.