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¹ And you lift up a lament for the rulers of Israel,² and say, What is your mother? A lioness, she lay down among lions, among young lions she multiplied her cubs.³ And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion and learned to tear the prey; he ate men.⁴ And the nations heard of him. He was taken in their pit, and they brought him in chains to the land of Egypt.⁵ And when she saw that she had waited, and her hope had been lost, then she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.⁶ And he went about among the lions. He became a young lion and learned to tear the prey; he ate men.⁷ And he knew his widows, and he laid their cities waste, and the land and its fullness were desolated from the sound of his roaring.⁸ Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.⁹ And they put him in a cage in chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into hunting nets so that his voice should not any longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰ Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. She was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters.¹¹ And there were rods to her, strong for the scepters of rulers, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches. And it was seen in her height, with the multitude of her branches.¹² But she was plucked in fury. She was thrown to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were torn away and withered; the fire burned her.¹³ And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.¹⁴ And fire has gone out from a rod of her branches, it consumed her fruit, and there is not a strong rod in her to be a scepter to rule. It is a lament, and has become a lament.