Lamentations 4:3

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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Even the jackals feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like ostriches in the desert.

Context of Lamentations 4:3

1How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. 2The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands! Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them. 5Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

Lamentations 4:3 word by word

גַּם־תַּנִּים֙ חָ֣לְצוּ שַׁ֔ד הֵינִ֖יקוּ גּוּרֵיהֶ֑ן בַּת־עַמִּ֣י לְאַכְזָ֔ר כַּיְעֵנִ֖ים בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Even the sea monstersתַּןtannîyn tannîym · jackalH8577
• draw outחָלַץchâlats · to rescueH2502
• the breastשַׁדshad shôd · breastH7699
• they give suckיָנַקyânaq · to suckleH3243
• to their young onesגּוּרgûr gûr · whelpH1482
• the daughterבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of my peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• cruelאַכְזָר'akzâr · cruelH393
• like the ostrichesיָעֵןyâ‛ên · ostrichH3283
• in the wildernessמִדְבָּרmidbâr · wildernessH4057

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:3

• Lamentations 2:20Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
• Lamentations 4:10The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Leviticus 26:29You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
• Deuteronomy 28:52"They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.
• 2 Kings 6:26Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"
• Isaiah 49:15"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'
• Ezekiel 5:10Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.
• Luke 23:28But turning to them Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
• Job 39:13"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
• Romans 1:31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

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

• Malice
• Ostriches

In the dictionaries

• the sea, the Great Sea, the western sea
• Comparable
• Dim
• Ostrich
• Poetry
• Whale
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Breast
• Dragon

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