A Lament for Israel's Princes
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"Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel
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and say: " 'What a lioness was your mother among the lions!
She lay down among the young lions and reared her cubs.
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She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.
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The nations heard about him, and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
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" 'When she saw her hope unfulfilled, her expectation gone,
she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion.
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He prowled among the lions, for he was now a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey and he devoured men.
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He broke down their strongholds and devastated their towns.
The land and all who were in it were terrified by his roaring.
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Then the nations came against him, those from regions round about.
They spread their net for him, and he was trapped in their pit.
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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.
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" 'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water;
it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.
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Its branches were strong, fit for the ruler's scepter.
It towered high above the thick foilage,
conspicuous for its height and for its many branches.
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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.
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Now it is planted in the desert in a dry and thirsty land.
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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."
