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

8Their form has become darker than soot! They are not recognized in the street. Their skin has shriveled on their bones, withered like a tree. 9Better are those slain by the sword than those struck down by famine— they waste away, racked with pain, for lack of fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children. They became their food when the daughter of my people were destroyed. 11Adonai has vented His fury. He has poured out His burning anger. Yes, He kindled a fire in Zion that devoured her foundations. 12The kings of the earth did not believe, nor did the inhabitations of the world, that enemy and foe would 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 jackals offer their breast to nurse their young. The daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the desert.
• Lamentations 2:20Look, Adonai, and consider with whom You have dealt so severely! Should women eat their offspring, their healthy newborn infants? Should kohen and prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord?
• 2 Kings 6:26As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, “My lord the king, help!”
• Isaiah 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing baby or lack compassion for a child of her womb? Even if these forget, I will not forget you.
• Lamentations 3:48Streams of tears run down my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Deuteronomy 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, who never ventured to set the sole of her foot on the ground out of delicateness and tenderness—her eye will become evil against the husband of her bosom and her son and daughter.
• 2 Kings 6:29So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her: ‘Give your son that we may eat him’—but she hid 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