Royal lions of Judah
1Human, here’s what I want you to do. Deliver this funeral song [1] to leaders of Israel: [2]2Your mother [3] was a lioness
A queen among the lions.
She rested with her cubs
And raised them till they were grown.
3She favored one as a leader
And watched him as he grew.
He learned to hunt prey,
With humans on the menu.
4People learned about him
And trapped him in a pit.
They dragged him out with hooks [4]
And hauled him off to Egypt. [5]
Judah’s new lion trapped
5When the lioness got the newsShe lost all hope in him.
She chose another cub [6]
And taught him how to lead.
6He prowled among the pride
And grew into a lion.
He learned how to hunt
With humans among his prey.
7He tore up their cities
And demolished their little towns.
Everyone was horrified
At the thunder of his roar.
8The people throughout the region
Put a target on his hide.
They set their nets
And caught him in a pit.
9Hooked and fitted for a collar,
He was hauled to Babylon’s king,
Arrested and held as captive.
The hills of Israel were quiet again
Free of his mighty roar.
Judah’s vine dead in the desert
10Your mother was like a vineyard vine, [7]Replanted near some water.
She filled her branches with fruit
Nourished by the moist ground.
11Its strongest stem might have been a scepter
For it rose high above the others,
A standout in height
And in shear thickness and strength.
12But torn out by the roots, [8]
It died upon the dirt.
The east wind dried it thin and hard,
Once the fruit was plucked and gone.
Fire took the last it had to offer.
13They had replanted it in the desert
A dry and searing land.
14The fire is finished burning now.
The branches and fruit are gone.
There’s nothing left of its strength,
No scepter for a king.
