1And you, raise a dirge concerning the leaders of Israel.2And you shall say: What is your mother? A lioness. She lay down among lions; she reared her cubs in the midst of young lions.3And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a lion, and he learned to tear prey; he devoured a man.4And the nations heard of him; he was captured in their pit, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.5And she saw that her hope had waited in vain and perished, so she took another of her cubs and made him a lion.6And he prowled among lions; he became a lion, and he learned to tear prey; he devoured a man.7And he knew his widows, and he laid waste their cities; and the land and its fullness were made desolate by the sound of his roaring.8And nations from the surrounding provinces set themselves against him, and they spread their net over him; he was captured in their pit.9And they put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.10Your mother was like a vine planted by the waters in your blood; she was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters.11And she produced strong rods that became ruling scepters, and her height rose above the interwoven branches; she was seen in her height because of the abundance of her boughs.12But she was uprooted in fury and cast down to the land, and the east wind dried up her fruit; her strong rods were broken off and withered; fire consumed them.13And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.14And fire came out from one of her branches and consumed her fruit, so that she had in her no strong rod, no scepter for ruling. She is a dirge and has become a dirge.