1 And thou take up lamentation upon the Princes of Israel,
1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and thou shalt say: Why lay thy mother a lioness among the lions, in the midst of young lions brought up her whelps?
2 And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?
3 And she brought out one of her young lions, he became a lion: and he learned to catch preys, and to eat man.
3 And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
4 And the Gentiles heard of him, and not without their wounds they took him: & they brought him in chains into the Land of Ægypt.
4 And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.
5 Who when she saw that she was weakened, and her expectation was lost, she took one of her young lions, she made him a lion.
5 But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.
6 Who went among the lions, & became a lion: and he learned to take prey, & to devour men.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
7 He learned to make widows, and to bring their cities into a desert: and the land was made desolate, and the fullness thereof by the voice of his roaring.
7 He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fullness thereof by the noise of his roaring.
8 And the Gentiles came together against him on every side out of the Provinces, and they spread their net upon him, in their wounds he was taken.
8 And the nations came together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken.
9 And they put him into a cave, in chains they brought him to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice might no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
9 And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Thy mother as it were a vine in thy blood is planted upon the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.
10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.
11 And there were made to her strong rods for the sceptres of them that rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.
11 And she hath strong rods to make scepters for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.
12 And she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground: and the burning wind hath dried up her fruit: the rods of her strength are withered, & dried up: fire hath eaten her.
12 But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, ¹and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her.
13 And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.
13 And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.
14 And there came forth fire from the rod of her boughs, which hath eaten her fruit: and there was not in her a strong rod, the sceptre of rulers. Lamentation it is, and it shall be into lamentation.
14 And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a scepter of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.