2.0 KiB
A Lament for the Princes of Israel
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"As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel
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and say, 'What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions; She reared her cubs.
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So she brought up one of her cubs; He became a lion, And he learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.
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Then nations heard about him; He was captured in their pit, And they brought him with hooks To the land of Egypt.
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Then she saw, as she waited, That her hope was lost, So she took another of her cubs And made him a young lion.
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And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion; He learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.
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He knew how to destroy their fortified towers And laid waste their cities; And the land was in desolation, as well as its fullness Because of the sound of his roaring.
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Then nations put themselves against him All around from their provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was captured in their pit.
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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.
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Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.
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And it had strong thick branches fit for scepters of rulers, And its height was exalted above the clouds So that it was seen in its exaltedness with the mass of its foliage.
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But it was uprooted in wrath; It was cast down to the ground; And the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong thick branch was torn off So that it dried up; The fire consumed it.
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So now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.
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And fire has gone out from its thick branch; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is not in it a strong thick branch, A scepter to rule.'" This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.