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“And you, lift up a lamentation for the rulers of Yisra’el,
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and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness. Among lions she lay down, in the midst of young lions she raised her cubs.
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And she raised up one of her cubs. He became a young lion and learned to tear prey. Adam he devoured.
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And the nations heard of him. In their pit he was caught. And they brought him with hooks to the land of Mitzrayim.
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And when she saw that she had waited, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
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And he walked about among the lions. He became a young lion and learned to tear prey. Adam he devoured.
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And he knew their widows and devastated their cities. And the land and its fullness were desolated by the sound of his roaring.
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Then the nations set themselves against him from the provinces all around. And they spread their net over him. In their pit he was caught.
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And they placed him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Bavel. They brought him into strongholds, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Yisra’el.
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Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by waters. Fruitful and full of branches she became because of abundant waters.
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And she had strong rods for the scepters of rulers. And her stature rose among the thick branches, and she was seen in her height with the multitude of her branches.
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But she was torn up in wrath and cast to the earth. And the east ruach dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and withered. Fire consumed them.
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And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
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And fire has gone out from a rod of her branches. It has consumed her fruit, and there is no strong rod in her to become a scepter for ruling.’ This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.”