Bible Commentaries

Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the ^a princes of Israel,

(a) That is, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, Josiah's sons, who for their pride and cruelty are compared to lions.

And say, What [is] thy ^b mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

(b) That is Jehoahaz's mother, or Jerusalem.

The ^c nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.

(c) By Pharaoh Nebo king of Egypt, (2 Kings 23:33).

Now when she saw that she had waited, [and] her hope was lost, then she took another of her ^d whelps, [and] made him a young lion.

(d) Which was Jehoiakim.

And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, [and] devoured ^e men.

(e) He slew the prophets and them that feared God and ravished their wives.

Then the ^f nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

(f) Nebuchadnezzar with his great army which was gathered from various nations.

Thy ^g mother [is] like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

(g) He speaks this in the reproach of this wicked king, in whose blood, that is in the race of his predecessors, Jerusalem would have been blessed according to God's promise and flourished as a fruitful vine.

But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the ^h east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

(h) Meaning, that the Chaldeans would destroy them as the east wind does the fruit of the vine.

And fire hath gone out ⁱ of a rod of her branches, [which] hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod [to be] a sceptre to rule. This [is] a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

(i) Destruction is come by Zedekiah, who was the opportunity for this rebellion.