19:1  "As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel

19:2  and say, `What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She reared her cubs.

19:3  `When she brought up one of her cubs, He became a lion, And he learned to tear {his} prey; He devoured men.

19:4  `Then nations heard about him; He was captured in their pit, And they brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt.

19:5  `When she saw, as she waited, {That} her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs And made him a young lion.

19:6  `And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear {his} prey; He devoured men.

19:7  `He destroyed their fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.

19:8  `Then nations set against him On every side from {their} provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.

19:9  `They put him in a cage with hooks And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in hunting nets So that his voice would be heard no more On the mountains of Israel.

19:10  `Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.

19:11  `And it had strong branches {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.

19:12  `But it was plucked up in fury; It was cast down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branch was torn off So that it withered; The fire consumed it.

19:13  `And now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.

19:14  `And fire has gone out from {its} branch; It has consumed its shoots {and} fruit, So that there is not in it a strong branch, A scepter to rule.' This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation."