Lamentations 4:10

Lamentations 4:10 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• New International Version (NIV)With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.
• English Standard Version (ESV)The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege.

Context of Lamentations 4:10

8Now their appearance is blacker than soot; They go unrecognized in the streets; Their skin clings to their bones, It has become as dry as wood. 9Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people. 11The Lord has fulfilled His fury, He has poured out His fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, And it has devoured its foundations. 12The kings of the earth, And all inhabitants of the world, Would not have believed That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem—

Lamentations 4:10 word by word

יְדֵ֗י נָשִׁים֙ רַחֲמָ֣נִיּ֔וֹת בִּשְּׁל֖וּ יַלְדֵיהֶ֑ן הָי֤וּ לְבָרוֹת֙ לָ֔מוֹ בְּשֶׁ֖בֶר בַּת־עַמִּֽי׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• The handsיָדyâd · handH3027
• of the pitifulרַחֲמָנִיrachmânîy · compassionateH7362
• womenאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• have soddenבָּשַׁלbâshal · to boilH1310
• their own childrenיֶ֫לֶדyeled · youthH3206
• they were their meatבָּרָהbârâh · to eatH1262
• in the destructionשֶׁ֫בֶרsheber shêber · breakingH7667
• of the daughterבַּתbath · daughterH1323
• of my peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971

Cross-references for Lamentations 4:10

• Lamentations 4:3Even the jackals present their breasts To nurse their young; But the daughter of my people is cruel, Like ostriches in the wilderness.
• Lamentations 2:20“See, O Lord, and consider! To whom have You done this? Should the women eat their offspring, The children they have cuddled? Should the priest and prophet be slain In the sanctuary of the Lord?
• 2 Kings 6:26Then, 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, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
• Lamentations 3:48My eyes overflow with rivers of water For the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Deuteronomy 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter,
• 2 Kings 6:29So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

Commentaries on Lamentations 4:10

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children - See on Lamentations 2:20; (note). But here there is a reference to mothers eating their own children; and this was done, not by mothers cruel and brutal, but by רחמניות נשים nashim rachmaniyoth, the compassionate, the tender-hearted mothers. From these horrible scenes it is well to pass with as hasty a step as possible.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10Pitiful - i. e. tender-hearted, compassionate. meat is used for food Psalm 69:21. What is here stated actually occurred during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus.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. 1010. (La 2:20; De 28:56, 57). pitiful--naturally at other times compassionate (Is 49:15). Josephus describes the unnatural act as it took place in the siege under Titus. sodden--boiled. Caph.Read the comment

Topics related to Lamentations 4:10

• Cannibalism
• Famine
• Prophecy
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Comparable
• Dim
• Poetry
• Zedekiah
• Acrostic
• Alphabet
• Lamentations, Book of
• Pitiful
• 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