Lamentación sobre los príncipes de Israel
1 »Tú, dedica este lamento a los príncipes de Israel.
2 Diles:

»¡Leona entre las leonas era tu madre!
¡Entre los leones crio a sus cachorros!
3 A uno de ellos lo levantó del suelo,
y lo convirtió en un verdadero leoncillo.
Y este aprendió a desmenuzar a su presa
y a devorarse a los hombres.
4 Cuando las naciones se enteraron,
lo hicieron caer en sus trampas
y encadenado lo llevaron a Egipto.
5 Cuando su madre perdió la esperanza
de que su cachorro volviera,
tomó a otro de sus cachorros
e hizo de él un león feroz.
6 Y el que antes era cachorro
llegó a ser león entre los leones,
y aprendió a desmenuzar a su presa
y a devorarse a los hombres.
7 Saqueó fortalezas, asoló ciudades,
y con el estruendo de sus rugidos
asustaba al país y a sus habitantes.

8 »Pero lo atacaron los pueblos vecinos.
Echaron su red sobre él,
y lo hicieron caer en un foso.
9 Lo encadenaron y, en una jaula,
lo presentaron ante el rey de Babilonia.
¡Lo confinaron en una mazmorra
para que nunca más sus rugidos
se oyeran sobre los montes de Israel!

10 »¡Vid entre las vides era tu madre!
Plantada junto a abundantes aguas,
daba abundantes frutos y vástagos;
11 sus fuertes varas servían para cetros,
y su altura sobresalía entre las ramas.
Era tal su altura, y tantos sus sarmientos,
que era fácilmente reconocible.
12 ¡Pero fue arrancada con violencia,
y derribada por los suelos!
¡El viento solano marchitó sus frutos
y dejó secas sus fuertes ramas!
¡Rotas quedaron, y el fuego las consumió!
13 Ahora está plantada en el desierto,
en una tierra seca y desolada.
14 De una de sus varas salió fuego,
y ese fuego consumió sus frutos.
¡Ya no queda en ella ninguna vara fuerte
que sirva como cetro para un rey!»

Este es un lamento, y lamento debe ser.
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.