A lamentation for the kings_of_Israel
1The Lord said: ‘You must sing a sad song, a lamentation for the kings_of_Israel. 2You must say:
“Your mother was a big female lion
among the other lions.
She lay down among the young lions
and she had babies and cared for them.
3She chose one of her babies
and he became a strong young lion.
He learned to catch food for himself
and he also killed and ate people.
4But people told the other nations about him
and they caught him in a trap.
They used big iron hooks to tie him
and they took him to Egypt.
5When the mother lion saw
that her young lion did not come back,
she took one of her other babies
and made him also a strong young lion.
6He walked among the other lions
and he became big and strong.
He learned how to catch food for himself
and he also killed people and ate them.
7He attacked their cities
and he broke down their strong buildings.
Everyone in the land was afraid
when he roared.
8But the people called all the nations
from the lands around him
to come together to catch him.
They threw a net over him
and they caught him in a hole.
9Then they put him in a cage
and used iron hooks to tie him
and they took him to the king of Babylon.
He never roared again on the mountains_of_Israel.”
10The Lord also said: “Your mother
is like a vine that was planted near the water.
The vine had a lot of branches
and it gave a lot of grapes
because there was a lot of water.
11The branches of the vine became strong.
People could use the branches
to make sceptres for kings.
The vine became bigger and bigger,
and its branches grew as high as the clouds.
Everyone could see that it was big
and it had a lot of branches.
12But people became angry with the vine
and they pulled it out of the ground.
When the hot eastern wind started to blow,
it became dry. They picked all its grapes,
and when all of its branches were dry,
they burnt them.
13And then they planted the vine
in the desert, in a dry land with no water.
14There was a fire that came
from the trunk of the vine and it burnt
all its branches and grapes.
Then there were no strong branches anymore
that people could use
to make a sceptre for a king.”
This is a very sad song, and it became a lamentation.’
