Lamentations 4:4

Lamentations 4:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)The 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.
• New International Version (NIV)Because of thirst the infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth; the children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them.
• New King James Version (NKJV)The tongue of the infant clings To the roof of its mouth for thirst; The young children ask for bread, But no one breaks it for them.
• New Living Translation (NLT)The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them.

Context of Lamentations 4:4

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! 3Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The 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. 6For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.

Lamentations 4:4 word by word

דָּבַ֨ק לְשׁ֥וֹן יוֹנֵ֛ק אֶל־חכּ֖וֹ בַּצָּמָ֑א עֽוֹלָלִים֙ שָׁ֣אֲלוּ לֶ֔חֶם פֹּרֵ֖שׂ אֵ֥ין לָהֶֽם׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• The tongueלָשׁוֹןlâshôn lâshôn leshônâh · tongueH3956
• of the sucking childיָנַקyânaq · to suckleH3243
• cleavethדָּבַקdâbaq · to cleaveH1692
• to the roof of his mouthחֵךְchêk · palateH2441
• for thirstצָמָאtsâmâ' · thirstH6772
• the young childrenעוֹלֵל‛ôlêl ‛ôlâl · infantH5768
• askשָׁאַלshâ'al shâ'êl · to askH7592
• breadלֶ֫חֶםlechem · foodH3899
• no man breakethפָּרַשׂpâraώ · to spreadH6566

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:4

• Psalms 22:15my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
• Psalms 137:6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
• Lamentations 1:11All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. "Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised."
• Lamentations 2:11My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.
• Deuteronomy 32:24they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
• Matthew 7:9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Commentaries on Lamentations 4:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4The tongue of the sucking child - See the note on Lamentations 2:12; (note).Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-22Although God’s people still experience his judgment, they will soon experience restoration.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. thirst--The mothers have no milk to give through the famine. He.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 4:4

• Famine
• Malice

In the dictionaries

• Comparable
• Dim
• Poetry
• Zedekiah
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Lamentations, Book of
• Poetry, Hebrew
• Proverbs, the Book of

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