1"Moreover, raise a lament for the leaders of Isra'el;
2say: 'What a mother you had a lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions and reared her cubs.
3One of her cubs she singled out: he became a young lion, he learned to seize his prey, he became a man-eater.
4The nations sounded an alarm against him; and he was caught in their pit. With hooks they dragged him off to the land of Egypt.
5When she saw that she had been thwarted, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made a young lion of him.
6He prowled among the lions, grew to be a young lion, learned to seize his prey and became a man-eater.
7He raped their widows and destroyed their cities; the land and all in it were appalled at the sound of his roaring.
8The nations set a snare for him from the provinces all around, they spread their net over him, and he was caught in their pit.
9With hooks they put him in a cage and brought him to the king of Bavel to imprison him in a fortress, so that his roar would be heard no more on the mountains of Isra'el.
10"'Your mother was like a strong grapevine planted by the water. It was fruitful and luxuriant because of the abundant water.
11It had strong branches to be used as scepters by rulers; besides having thick foliage, it grew taller and taller, until its height was noticed, with its mass of branches.
12But it was torn up in fury and flung on the ground. An east wind withered her fruit, her strong branches were broken off; they dried up; and fire consumed the vine.
13It has been transplanted to the desert, to a dry, thirsty land.
14Fire has gone out from its own branches, burning up its fruit, so that now it has no strong branch to be a ruler's scepter.'" This lamentation became very well known.