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.
• 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

1“Look how the gold has become tarnished! The fine gold has changed! The sacred stones are scattered at every street corner. 2“Zion’s precious children, who are worth their weight in fine gold, are now treated like clay pots, like those made by a potter’s hands. Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the women of my people are as cruel as wild ostriches. 4The tongues of nursing infants stick to the roofs of their mouths because of their thirst. Little children beg for bread, but no one will break off a piece for them. 5Those who used to eat delicacies are now destitute in the streets. Those who used to wear expensive clothes now pick through piles of garbage.

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 2:20“O Lord, look and consider: Have you ever treated anyone like this? Should women eat their own children, the children they have nursed? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s holy place?
• Lamentations 4:10The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children. The children were used for food by my people when they were being destroyed ⌞by a blockade⌟.
• Leviticus 26:29You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters.
• Deuteronomy 28:52They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls in which you trust come down everywhere in your land. They’ll blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
• 2 Kings 6:26As the king of Israel was walking on the city wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, Your Majesty!”
• Isaiah 49:15Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers may forget, I will not forget you.
• Jeremiah 19:9I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other’s flesh during blockades and hardships that their enemies impose on them when they want to kill them.”
• Ezekiel 5:10That is why parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter whoever is left to the wind.
• Luke 23:28Jesus turned to them and said, “You women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me! Rather, cry for yourselves and your children!
• Job 39:13“Does the ostrich flap its wings in joy, or do its wings lack feathers?
• Romans 1:31don’t have any sense, don’t keep promises, and don’t show love to their own families or mercy to others.

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