 1 Take up weeping for the rulers of Israel. 2 Say this: What is your mother? A lioness. She lay down among lions. She multiplied her cubs among young lions. 3 She brought up one of her cubs and it became a strong lion, learned to tear the prey, and ate men. 4 The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. 5 When she saw that she had waited and that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion. 6 He went up and down among the lions and became a young lion and learned to tear the prey and ate men. 7 He knew his widows and laid their cities waste and the land and its fullness was desolated from the sound of his roaring. 8 The nations set against him on every side from the provinces and spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit. 9 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 could never be heard again 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 She had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, 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 up in fury. She was thrown down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and withered. The fire burned them up. 13 Now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. 14 Fire has gone out from a rod of her branches, which has licked up her fruit so that there is no strong rod in her to be a scepter to rule. This is a mourning and shall be for a mourning.
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