Lamentations 4:3

But also lamias (or lamiae) made naked their teats, gave milk to their whelps; (but) the daughter of my people is cruel, as an ostrich in desert (or like an ostrich in the wilderness).

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

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 noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how be they areckoned into earthen vessels, into the work of the hands of a potter? (The noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how they be reckoned like clay vessels, yea, the work of the hands of a potter!)

4The tongue of the sucking child cleaved to his palate in thirst; little children asked (for) bread, and none was that brake to them (or but no one gave them any).

Read all of Lamentations 4

Cross References

Deuteronomy 28:52and all-break [thee] in all thy cities (or and have all-broken thee in all thy cities), and till thy firm and high walls be destroyed, in which thou haddest trust in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

2 Kings 6:26And when the king of Israel passed by the wall of the city, a woman cried to him, and said, My lord the king, save thou me.

Job 39:16He is made hard to his young, as if they were not his; he travailed in vain, while no dread constrained him. (He is hardened against his young, as if they were not his; he laboured in vain, while no fear constrained him.)

Jeremiah 19:9And I shall feed them with the fleshes of their sons, and with the fleshes of their daughters; and each man shall eat the fleshes of his friend in the besieging and anguish, in which the enemies of them, and they that seek the lives of them, shall close them together. (And I shall feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the flesh of their daughters; and each person shall eat the flesh of his friend in the besieging and in the anguish, in which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, shall altogether enclose them.)

Lamentations 4:10The hands of merciful women seethed their children; they were made the meats of those women in the sorrow of the daughter of my people. (The hands of merciful women boiled their own children; they were made the food for those women in the horror of the wounding of my people.)

Luke 23:28And Jesus turned to them, and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not ye weep on me, but weep ye on yourselves and on your sons, (or Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but rather weep for yourselves and for 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