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