American Standard Version
Lamentations 4:3
3Even the jackals 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.
Lamentations 4:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but my people have become heartless like ostriches in the desert.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Even the jackals present their breasts To nurse their young; But the daughter of my people is cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness.
Context of Lamentations 4:3
1How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. 2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! Even the jackals 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. 4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. 5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
Read all of Lamentations 4Lamentations 4:3 word by word
גַּם־תַּנִּים֙ חָ֣לְצוּ שַׁ֔ד הֵינִ֖יקוּ גּוּרֵיהֶ֑ן בַּת־עַמִּ֣י לְאַכְזָ֔ר כַּיְעֵנִ֖ים בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ סRead the interlinear
Cross-references for Lamentations 4:3
- Lamentations 2:20See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Lamentations 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Leviticus 26:29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
- Deuteronomy 28:52And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land; and they shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
- 2 Kings 6:26And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
- Isaiah 49:15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
- Jeremiah 19:9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
- Ezekiel 5:10Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds.
- Luke 23:28But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
- Job 39:13The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; But are they the pinions and plumage of love?
- Romans 1:31without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful:
Commentaries on Lamentations 4:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Even the sea monsters draw out the breast - The whales give suck to their young ones. The word תנין tannin, signifies all large and cruel creatures, whether aquatic or terrestrial; and need not here be restrained to the former sort. My Old MS. Bible translates curiously: Not and the cruel bestis that ben clepid Lamya, and thei nakeden ther tetis, geve ther whelpis souken. Like the ostriches in the wilderness - For her carelessness about her eggs, and her…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Sea monsters - Rather, jackals. Their young ones - “Their” whelps. The term is applied only to the young of dogs, lions, and the like.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3like an ostrich: See also Job 39:13–16.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. sea monsters ... breast--Whales and other cetaceous monsters are mammalian. Even they suckle their young; but the Jewish women in the siege, so desperate was their misery, ate theirs (La 4:10; La 2:20). Others translate, "jackals." ostriches--see on Job 39:14; Job 39:16, on their forsaking their young. Daleth.Read the comment
Topics related to Lamentations 4:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Lamentations 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries