19:1 "Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel

19:2 and say: "'What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among the young lions and reared her cubs.

19:3 She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.

19:4 The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit. They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

19:5 "'When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.

19:6 He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion. He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.

19:7 He broke down their strongholds and devastated their towns. The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring.

19:8 Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about. They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit.

19:9 With hooks they pulled him into a cage and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison, so his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.

19:10 "'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.

19:11 Its branches were strong, fit for a ruler's scepter. It towered high above the thick foliage, conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.

19:12 But it was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel, it was stripped of its fruit; its strong branches withered and fire consumed them.

19:13 Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land.

19:14 Fire spread from one of its main branches and consumed its fruit. No strong branch is left on it fit for a ruler's scepter.' This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."