¹ואתה שא קינה אל נשיאי ישראל׃

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

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

²and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps in the midst of the young lions.

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

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

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

⁴And the nations heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings into the land of Egypt.

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

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

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

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

⁷וידע אלמנותיו ועריהם החריב ותשם ארץ ומלאה מקול שאגתו׃

⁷And he knew their [desolate] palaces, and he laid waste their cities, so that the land was desolate, and all it contained, by the noise of his roaring.

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

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

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

⁹And they put him in a cage with nose-rings, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

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

¹⁰Thy mother was as a vine, in thy rest, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

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

¹¹And it had strong rods for sceptres of them that bear rule, and its stature was exalted between the thick boughs; and it was conspicuous by its height with the multitude of its branches.

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

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

¹³ועתה שתולה במדבר בארץ ציה וצמא׃

¹³And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground:

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

¹⁴and a fire is gone out of a rod of its branches, [which] hath devoured its fruit; so that it hath no strong rod to be a sceptre for ruling. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.