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 King James Version (NKJV)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.

Context of Lamentations 4:10

8But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood. 9Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields. Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege. 11But now the anger of the Lord is satisfied. His fierce anger has been poured out. He started a fire in Jerusalem that burned the city to its foundations. 12Not a king in all the earth— no one in all the world— would have believed that an enemy could march through 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 feed their young, but not my people Israel. They ignore their children’s cries, like ostriches in the desert.
• Lamentations 2:20“O Lord, think about this! Should you treat your own people this way? Should mothers eat their own children, those they once bounced on their knees? Should priests and prophets be killed within the Lord’s Temple?
• 2 Kings 6:26One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”
• Isaiah 49:15“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!
• Lamentations 3:48Tears stream from my eyes because of the destruction of my people!
• Deuteronomy 28:56The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.
• 2 Kings 6:29So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can 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