1Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel , 2and say, What was thy mother? A lioness : she couched among lions , in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps . 3And she brought up one of her whelps : he became a young lion , and he learned to catch the prey ; he devoured men. 4The nations also heard of him ; he was taken in their pit ; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt . 5Now when she saw that she had waited , and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps , and made him a young lion . 6And he went up and down among the lions ; he became a young lion , and he learned to catch the prey ; he devoured men . 7And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities ; and the land was desolate , and the fulness thereof , because of the noise of his roaring . 8Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces ; and they spread their net over him ; he was taken in their pit . 9And they put him in a cage with hooks , and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel .
The Fate of the Lion Cubs
10Thy mother was like a vine , in thy blood , planted by the waters : it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters . 11And it had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule , and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs , and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches . 12But it was plucked up in fury , it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit : its strong rods were broken off and withered ; the fire consumed them . 13And now it is planted in the wilderness , in a dry and thirsty land . 14And fire is gone out of the rods of its branches , it hath devoured its fruit , so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule . This is a lamentation , and shall be for a lamentation .