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19. Lament for Israel's Princes

¹ “Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel ² and say:

   “‘What a lioness was your mother
   among the lions!
She lay down among them
   and reared her cubs.
³ She brought up one of her cubs,
   and he became a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
   and he became a man-eater.
⁴ The nations heard about him,
   and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks
   to the land of Egypt.

    ⁵ “‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled,
   her expectation gone,
she took another of her cubs
   and made him a strong lion.
⁶ He prowled among the lions,
   for he was now a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
   and he became a man-eater.
⁷ He broke down Targum (see Septuagint); Hebrew He knew their strongholds
   and devastated their towns.
The land and all who were in it
   were terrified by his roaring.
⁸ Then the nations came against him,
   those from regions round about.
They spread their net for him,
   and he was trapped in their pit.
⁹ With hooks they pulled him into a cage
   and brought him to the king of Babylon.
They put him in prison,
   so his roar was heard no longer
   on the mountains of Israel.

    ¹⁰ “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard Two Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts your blood
   planted by the water;
it was fruitful and full of branches
   because of abundant water.
¹¹ Its branches were strong,
   fit for a ruler’s scepter.
It towered high
   above the thick foliage,
conspicuous for its height
   and for its many branches.
¹² But it was uprooted in fury
   and thrown to the ground.
The east wind made it shrivel,
   it was stripped of its fruit;
its strong branches withered
   and fire consumed them.
¹³ Now it is planted in the desert,
   in a dry and thirsty land.
¹⁴ Fire spread from one of its main Or from under its branches
   and consumed its fruit.
No strong branch is left on it
   fit for a ruler’s scepter.’

“This is a lament and is to be used as a lament.”

Let us come now to the second clause. He says that the vine was torn away in wrath, thrown on the ground, and dried by the east wind, and that its boughs were broken off and withered, and consumed by fire. I have now briefly explained the Prophet’s meaning. As the Jews had grown stupid in their calamity, and were not humbled so as suppliantly to fly to God’s mercy, the Prophet corrects their torpor when he shows them their origin. He now says that they were reduced to extreme wretchedness by a sudden assault; for a change which took place in a short space of time ought to affect them to the quick; but if they had been slowly diminished, the change had not been so remarkable: but when the vine was struck by lightning, torn up, withered, and burnt, that instantaneous slaughter, as I have said, showed that it was not by chance, but by the evident wrath of God. For this reason he says that the vine was violently torn up, and cast upon the ground. If the vine had been dried up by degrees, it, would not have been so wonderful; but its sudden tearing up ought to have made them sensible of the wrath of God, towards which they had grown callous. This is the reason why the Prophet adds one simile to another. The plucking up would have been sufficient; but he adds, it was cast upon the ground, that it should wither away completely. He adds, the east wind, which destroys both fruits and trees, as is sufficiently evident from many passages; and not only so, but he says that the boughs were broken, or plucked off, and withered: lastly, they were consumed with fire In fine, the hand of God appeared visibly in that horrible slaughter of the people, when they were torn up, cut off, withered, and burnt. It follows —