‘What was your mother?

A lioness.

She couched among lions,

in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.

He became a young lion.

He learned to catch the prey.

He devoured men.

He was taken in their pit;

and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

and her hope was lost,

then she took another of her cubs,

and made him a young lion.

He became a young lion.

He learned to catch the prey.

He devoured men.

and laid waste their cities.

The land was desolate,

with its fullness,

because of the noise of his roaring.

They spread their net over him.

He was taken in their pit.

and brought him to the king of Babylon.

They brought him into strongholds,

so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.

in your blood,

planted by the waters.

It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs.

They were seen in their height

with the multitude of their branches.

It was cast down to the ground,

and the east wind dried up its fruit.

Its strong branches were broken off and withered.

The fire consumed them.

in a dry and thirsty land.

It has devoured its fruit,

so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’