A Lament for the Princes of Israel

19 And you, xtake up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say:

What was your mother? yA lioness!

Among lions she crouched;

in the midst of young lions

she reared her cubs.

3  And she brought up one of her cubs;

zhe became a young lion,

aand he learned to catch prey;

he devoured men.

4  The nations heard about him;

bhe was caught in their pit,

cand they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

5  When she saw that she waited in vain,

that her hope was lost,

dshe took another of her cubs

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 seized1 their widows.

He laid waste their cities,

and the land was appalled and all who were in it

at the sound of his roaring.

8  eThen the nations set against him

from provinces on every side;

fthey spread their net over him;

bhe was taken in their pit.

9  With hooks ethey put him in a cage2

and gbrought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him into custody,

that his voice should no more be heard

on hthe mountains of Israel.