Lament for the Leaders of Israel

1 “And you, raise a lament aboutthe leaders of Israel,

2 and you must say,

‘What a lioness was your mother

among the lions.

She lay down in the midst of young lions,

and she reared her lion cubs.

3 And she raised up one from her cubs;

he became a fierce lion,

and he learned to tear prey;

he atehumans.

4 And nations heard about him;

in their pit he was caught,

and they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

5 And she sawthat she was waiting in vain;

her hope was destroyed,

and she took one from her cubs,

and she made him a fierce lion.

6 And he walked about in the midst of lions;

he became a fierce lion,

and he learned to tear prey;

he atehumans.

7 And he knew their widows,

and he devastated their cities,

and the land was appalled, and everyone in it

at the sound of his roar.

8 And nations set out against him

from the surrounding provinces,

and they spread their net over him,

and he was caught in their pit.

9 And they put him in a collar with hooks,

and they brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him intoa prison,

so that his voice would not be heard any longer

on the mountains of Israel.

10 Your mother was like the vine in your vineyard;

planted fruitfullybeside water,

and it was full of branches

from many waters.

11 And she produced branches of strength

toscepters of rulers;

its height became tall

betweenthick foliage,

and it was seenbecause of its tallness

among the abundance of its branches.

12 But it was uprooted in rage;

it was thrown to the earth,

and the east wind dried up its fruit;

they were stripped off,

and its strong branch dried up;

fire consumed it.

13 And now it is planted in the desert,

in a dry and thirsty land.

14 And so fire has gone out from the stem of its branches;

its fruit it has consumed,

and there was not in it a strong branch,

a scepter for ruling.’ ”

This is a lament, and it will be used as a lament.