²⁰ Our king—the Lord’s anointed, the very life of our nation—
    was caught in their snares.
We had thought that his shadow
    would protect us against any nation on earth!

⁹ Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground.
    He has smashed their locks and bars.
Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands;
    her law has ceased to exist.
Her prophets receive
    no more visions from the Lord.

⁴ Then the nations heard about him,
    and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him away with hooks
    to the land of Egypt.

⁵ “When the lioness saw
    that her hopes for him were gone,
she took another of her cubs
    and taught him to be a strong young lion.
⁶ He prowled among the other lions
    and stood out among them in his strength.
He learned to hunt and devour prey,
    and he, too, became a man-eater.
⁷ He demolished fortresses^[a]
    and destroyed their towns and cities.
Their farms were desolated,
    and their crops were destroyed.
The land and its people trembled in fear
    when they heard him roar.
⁸ Then the armies of the nations attacked him,
    surrounding him from every direction.
They threw a net over him
    and captured him in their pit.