Lamentations 4:3

Even the female jackals/wolves feed their pups, but my people act cruelly toward their children; they are like [SIM] ostriches in the desert that abandon their eggs.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

In Context

2The young men of Jerusalem were as valuable as [MET] large amounts of gold, but now people consider that they are as worthless as ordinary clay pots.

4My people’s infants’ tongues cling to the roofs/tops of their mouths because they are extremely thirsty; the children plead for some food, but no one gives them any.

Read all of Lamentations 4

Cross References

Deuteronomy 28:52Your enemies will surround your towns throughout the land that Yahweh your God is about to give to you, and they will break down the high and strong walls around your towns, walls which you trusted/thought would protect you.

2 Kings 6:26One day when the king of Israel was walking on top of the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Your Majesty, help me!”

Job 39:16Ostriches act cruelly towards their chicks; they act as though the chicks belonged to some other ostrich. They are not concerned if their chicks die, and so the laying of the eggs was in vain.

Jeremiah 19:9I will enable your enemies who want to kill you to surround the city for a long time. Then the food will be all gone, and you people will be extremely hungry, with the result that you people in the city will eat the flesh of your own children and your neighbors’ children.’

Lamentations 4:10Women who usually/previously were very kind have killed and cooked their own children; they ate them when there was no other food, when Jerusalem was surrounded by enemy soldiers.

Luke 23:28But Jesus turned to them and said, “You women of Jerusalem, do not cry for me! Instead, cry because of what is going to happen to yourselves and your children!

Matthew Henry on Lamentations 4:2-13

Desolate Condition of Jerusalem; Effects of Famine in Jerusalem; Destruction of Jerusalem. ( b. c. 588.) 1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. 2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Lamentations 4:3