Aa
Song of Mourning for the Leaders of Israel
1“As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel
2and say,
Or Why did your mother, a lioness, lie down among lions; among young lions rear her cubs?What was your mother?
A lioness among lions!
She lay down among young lions,
She raised her cubs.
3When she brought up one of her cubs,
He became a young lion,
And he learned to tear his prey;
He devoured people.
4Then nations heard about him;
He was caught in their trap,
And they brought him with hooks
To the land of Egypt.
5When she saw, as she waited,
That her hope was lost,
She took Lit oneanother of her cubs
And made him a young lion.
6And he walked about among the lions,
He became a young lion;
He learned to tear his prey;
He devoured people.
7He As in Targum; MT knewdestroyed their Or widowspalaces
And laid waste their cities;
And the land and its fullness were appalled
Because of the sound of his roaring.
8Then nations set against him
On every side from their provinces,
And they spread their net over him;
He was caught in their trap.
9They put him in a Or ironwooden collar with hooks
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in hunting nets
So that his voice would no longer be heard
On the mountains of Israel.
10Your mother was like a vine in your As in some mss; MT bloodvineyard,
Planted by the waters;
It was fruitful and thick with branches
Because of abundant waters.
11And it had Lit stems of strengthstrong stems fit for scepters of rulers,
And its height was raised above the clouds
So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.
12But it was uprooted in fury;
It was thrown down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit.
Lit The stem of her strength Its strong stem As in LXX; MT werewas torn out
So that As in LXX; MT theyit withered;
The fire consumed it.
13And now it is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14And fire has gone out from its stem;
It has consumed its shoots and fruit,
So that there is no Lit stem of strengthstrong stem in it,
A scepter to rule.’ ”
This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.