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

1How dulled is the gold, how tarnished the fine gold. The sacred gems are poured out at the corner of every street. 2The precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in gold— alas! now they are treated like clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands! Even jackals offer their breast to nurse their young. The daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the desert. 4The nursing infant’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. Little children ask for bread, but no one gives it t0 them. 5Those who used to eat delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace trash heaps.

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 2:20Look, 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?
• Lamentations 4:10The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children. They became their food when the daughter of my people were destroyed.
• Leviticus 26:29You will eat the flesh of your sons and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
• Deuteronomy 28:52It will besiege you within all your town gates throughout your land, until your high and fortified walls—that you trusted in—come down. It will besiege you within all your gates throughout your land that Adonai your God has given you.
• 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.
• Jeremiah 19:9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone will eat his companion’s flesh during the siege and distress, which their enemies and those who seek their life will inflict on them.
• Ezekiel 5:10Therefore the fathers will eat the sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you and I will scatter the remainder of you to all the winds.
• Luke 23:28But Yeshua, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but for yourselves and your children.
• Job 39:13“The wings of the ostrich flap joyously, but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork?
• Romans 1:31They are foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

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