Study Desk

"As for you, take up a song of mourning for the leaders of Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now 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.

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

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

'He destroyed their palaces And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.

And 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.

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

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

'They put him in a wooden collar with hooks And 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.

And 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.

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

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

'And it had strong stems fit for scepters of rulers, And its height was raised above the clouds So that it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches.

And 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.

'But it was uprooted in fury; It was thrown down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong stem was torn out So that it withered; The fire consumed it.

But 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.

'And now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

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

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

And 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.