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and say: 'What is your mother? A lioness: She lay down among the lions; Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
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She brought up one of her cubs, And he became a young lion; He learned to catch prey, And he devoured men.
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The nations also heard of him; He was trapped in their pit, And they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.
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'When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
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He roved among the lions, And became a young lion; He learned to catch prey; He devoured men.
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He knew their desolate places, And laid waste their cities; The land with its fullness was desolated By the noise of his roaring.
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Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side, And spread their net over him; He was trapped in their pit.
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They put him in a cage with chains, And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in nets, That his voice should no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.
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'Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, Planted by the waters, Fruitful and full of branches Because of many waters.
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She had strong branches for scepters of rulers. She towered in stature above the thick branches, And was seen in her height amid the dense foliage.
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But she was plucked up in fury, She was cast down to the ground, And the east wind dried her fruit. Her strong branches were broken and withered; The fire consumed them.
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And now she is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.
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Fire has come out from a rod of her branches And devoured her fruit, So that she has no strong branch--a scepter for ruling.' " This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.