1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
5 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.
6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7 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.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 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.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14 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.
<html><b>How was your mother a lioness!</b> How esteemed was your motheryou, Zedekiah—that she was compared to a lioness! <b>Among the lions</b> The princes of Judah.</html>
<html><b>And she raised up one of her cubs</b> This lamentation was said regarding the sons of Josiah. The first is Jehoahaz. <b>he devoured men</b> Heb. אָדָם. He robbed Israel, for Israel is called אָדָם, man, as is stated (below 34:31): “And you are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men,” and according to the allegory, any beast that tasted human flesh will always provoke humans.</html>
<html><b>Nations gathered around him</b> Pharaoh the king of Egypt. <b>in their pit he was caught</b> Heb. בְּשַּׁחְתָם. They dig pits and cover their openings with straw, and the beast falls into them. <b>and they brought him with hooks</b> A sort of iron ring. They puncture his nose and pull him with them.</html>
<html><b>Now she saw</b> His mother, the congregation of Israel. <b>that she had taken ill</b> Heb. נוֹחַלָה, an expression of illness (חֹלִי). <b>and she took one of her cubs</b> Jehoiakim. <b>and made him a young lion</b> [i. e.,] a king. Every כְּפִיר in Scripture is a young and mighty lion.</html>
<html><b>And he was intimate with their widows</b> He would rape the women and kill their husbands. Some interpret אַלְמְנוֹתָיו like אַרְמְנוֹתָיו [their palaces] and וַיֵדַע as an expression of destruction and ruin, as in (Ps. 138:6): “and He chastises (יְיֵדָע) the haughty from afar.” <b>and their cities he laid waste</b> For he levied a tax on the land to give Pharaoh annually, as it is said in II Kings (23:35).</html>
<html><b>And nations gathered around against him from provinces</b> (II Kings 24:2): “And the Lord incited against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, and bands of Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon.” “And nations gathered against him.” וַיִתְּנוּ [is rendered by Jonathan as:] and they gathered.</html>
<html><b>into a collar</b> Heb. בַּסוּגַר. Jonathan rendered: into a collar. <b>into strongholds</b> to be imprisoned there.</html>
<html><b>Your mother is like a vine</b> This is still part of the lamentation. <b>in your likeness</b> Heb. בְּדַמְךָ, a term denoting a likeness and an analogy; i.e., you are like one whose mother was like a vine planted by water. <b>fruitful</b> Heb. פֹּרִיָה, like (Deut. 29:17): “that bears (פּוֹרָה) gall,” [a word meaning:] produces fruit. <b>from many waters</b> Through many waters.</html>
<html><b>sturdy rods for the scepters of the rulers</b> Powerful rulers and mighty kings. <b>over between the interwoven branches</b> The trees whose branches were many.</html>
<html><b>And it was scattered</b> Heb. וַתֻּתֳּשּׁ. Every [expression of] נְתִישָּׁה or נְטִישָּׁה means something that lies scattered upon the face of the whole earth. <b>and the east wind</b> Nebuchadnezzar. <b>dried up its fruit</b> He slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah.</html>
<html><b>And fire came out of the staff of its sturdy branches</b> From the iniquity of its kings and princes, the evil came to it. <b>It is a lamentation, and it will be a lamentation</b> The prophecy is a lamentation, and it will be a lamentation.</html>