²¹ The young lions roar after their prey, And seek their food from God.

³⁹ Canst thou hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

²⁰ Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

⁴ Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

²² Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.

¹⁸ How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

² and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps.

³ And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.

⁴ The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks 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 he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.

⁷ And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring.

⁸ Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.

⁹ And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰ Thy mother was like a vine, in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

¹¹ And it had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.

¹² But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them.

¹³ And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

¹⁴ And fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it hath devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

⁴ For thus saith Jehovah unto me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds be called forth against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so will Jehovah of hosts come down to fight upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof.

⁹ He giveth to the beast his food, `And' to the young ravens which cry.

¹⁵ The eyes of all wait for thee; And thou givest them their food in due season.

¹⁰ The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; But they that seek Jehovah shall not want any good thing.

⁴¹ Who provideth for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry unto God, `And' wander for lack of food?