CHAPTER 19

1 Wherefore take you up this mournful strain against the princes of Israel,

2 And say, Why did thy mother -- a lioness -- Lie down among lions? she brought up her whelps In the midst of lions.

3 Then she bore one of her whelps, and he was made a lion: Then he learnt to seize his prey, and he devoured men.

4 Then the Gentiles heard of him; he was taken in their pit, And they led him in chains into the land of Egypt.

5 Then she saw what she had hoped for, and how her hope had perished; And she took another of her whelps, and made him a lion.

6 Then he walked in the midst of lions, and became a lion; And he learnt to seize the prey, and devoured men.

7 Then he harassed their palaces and destroyed their cities; And the land was rendered desolate, and all its fullness, By the voice of his roaring.

8 Then the nations set themselves against him From all sides and regions, and spread their net over him. He was taken in their pitfall: and they put him in ward,

9 And brought him in chains to the king of Babylon. They led him into strongholds, that his voice Might be no longer heard in the mountains of Israel.

10 Thy mother, when she bore thee, ¹ was planted like a vine near the waters: She was fruitful and branching beside many waters.

11 And the rods of her strength were for scepters for rulers, And her stature was elevated, and appeared aloft In the multitude of her branches.

12 Then she was torn in fury, and cast on the ground; And the east wind dried up her fruit; Her strong rods were broken off and dried up; The fire consumed them; and now she is planted

13 In the desert, in a land of dryness and thirst.

14 Then a fire went forth from the rod of her branches, and devoured her fruit; And there was not a rod of strength in her -- a scepter for ruling. This is the lamentation, and shall be for a wailing.