1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
Now we are going to talk specifically to (cry about) the royalty.
2 And say, "What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3 "And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men."
One of the Israelites became king.
4 "The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt."
Jehoahaz was captured by the Egyptians and carried away to their land where he died. 2 Kings 23
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."
Jehoiachin, Jehoahaz’s brother, was the next king.
6 "And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7 "And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring."
Jehoiachin was an evil, oppressive king.
8 "Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9 "And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel."
Jehoiachin was taken captive in the first carrying away to Babylon. He never returned to Jerusalem.
10 "Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters."
We change metaphors: now Israel is like a vine instead of a lion. She is a fruitful vine.
11 "And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches."
The next king was Zedekiah. He had many sons and appeared to rule with great strength.
12 "But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them."
Babylon captured Zedekiah, killed all his sons, blinded him, and carried him off to Babylon, all while destroying Judah and flattening Jerusalem and the Temple.
13 "And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground."
Jerusalem is no longer a prosperous land, but is stricken with poverty.
14 "And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation."
Judah has no more king, and, in fact, will never have again. King Herod of the time of Jesus’ birth was an Edomite, not a Jew, though he did practice a type of the Jewish religion. He was appointed by Rome to rule the region, not by blood lines.