¹Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

¹ואתה שא קינה אל נשיאי ישראל׃

²And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

²ואמרת מה אמך לביא בין אריות רבצה בתוך כפרים רבתה גוריה׃

³And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

³ותעל אחד מגריה כפיר היה וילמד לטרף טרף אדם אכל׃

⁴The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

⁴וישמעו אליו גוים בשחתם נתפש ויבאהו בחחים אל ארץ מצרים׃

⁵Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

⁵ותרא כי נוחלה אבדה תקותה ותקח אחד מגריה כפיר שמתהו׃

⁶And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

⁶ויתהלך בתוך אריות כפיר היה וילמד לטרף טרף אדם אכל׃

⁷And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

⁷וידע אלמנותיו ועריהם החריב ותשם ארץ ומלאה מקול שאגתו׃

⁸Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

⁸ויתנו עליו גוים סביב ממדינות ויפרשו עליו רשתם בשחתם נתפש׃

⁹And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

⁹ויתנהו בסוגר בחחים ויבאהו אל מלך בבל יבאהו במצדות למען לא ישמע קולו עוד אל הרי ישראל׃

¹⁰Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

¹⁰אמך כגפן בדמך על מים שתולה פריה וענפה היתה ממים רבים׃

¹¹And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

¹¹ויהיו לה מטות עז אל שבטי משלים ותגבה קומתו על בין עבתים וירא בגבהו ברב דליתיו׃

¹²But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

¹²ותתש בחמה לארץ השלכה ורוח הקדים הוביש פריה התפרקו ויבשו מטה עזה אש אכלתהו׃

¹³And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

¹³ועתה שתולה במדבר בארץ ציה וצמא׃

¹⁴And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

¹⁴ותצא אש ממטה בדיה פריה אכלה ולא היה בה מטה עז שבט למשול קינה היא ותהי לקינה׃