¹¹ Where now is that great Nineveh,
    that den filled with young lions?
It was a place where people—like lions and their cubs—
    walked freely and without fear.

²⁹ They will roar like lions,
    like the strongest of lions.
Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off,
    and no one will be there to rescue them.

² “What is your mother?
    A lioness among lions!
She lay down among the young lions
    and reared her cubs.
³ She raised one of her cubs
    to become a strong young lion.
He learned to hunt and devour prey,
    and he became a man-eater.
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.

⁴⁴ “I will come like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan,
    leaping on the sheep in the pasture.
I will chase Babylon from its land,
    and I will appoint the leader of my choice.
For who is like me, and who can challenge me?
    What ruler can oppose my will?”

⁷ A lion stalks from its den,
    a destroyer of nations.
It has left its lair and is headed your way.
    It’s going to devastate your land!
Your towns will lie in ruins,
    with no one living in them anymore.