Study Desk

"As for you, take up a ^(C1)song of mourning for the ^(C2)leaders of Israel

and say, '^(F1)What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She raised her cubs.

-'When she brought up one of her cubs, ^(C1)He became a young lion, And he learned to tear his prey; He devoured people.

-'Then nations heard about him; He was caught in their trap, And they ^(C1)brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt.

-'When she saw, as she waited, That her hope was lost, She took ^(F1)another of her cubs And made ^(C1)him a young lion.

-'And he ^(C1)walked about among the lions, He became a young lion; He learned to tear his prey; He devoured people.

-'He ^(F1)destroyed their ^(F2)palaces And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.

-'Then ^(C1)nations set against him On every side from their provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was caught in their trap.

-'^(C1)They put him in a ^(F1)wooden collar with hooks And ^(C2)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.

-'Your mother was ^(C1)like a vine in your ^(F1)vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and thick with branches Because of abundant waters.

-'And it had ^(F1)(C1)strong stems fit for scepters of rulers, And its ^(C2)height was raised above the clouds So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

-'But it was ^(C1)uprooted in fury; It was ^(C2)thrown down to the ground; And the ^(C3)east wind dried up its fruit. ^(F1)Its ^(C4)strong stem ^(F2)was torn out So that ^(F3)it withered; The fire consumed it.

-'And now it is planted in the ^(C1)wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

-'And ^(C1)fire has gone out from its stem; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is no ^(F1)strong stem in it, A scepter to rule.'" This is a song of mourning, and has become a song of mourning.

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