Lamentations 4:10
8 But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any people of the world, that an enemy or a foe could enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- 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.
- WEB
- The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- ASV
- The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children; They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- DARBY
- The hands of pitiful women have boiled their own children: they were their meat in the ruin of the daughter of my people.
- BLB
- The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became food for them in [this] destruction of the daughter of my people!
- ÅB
- Ømhjertede kvinner kokte selv sine egne barn, de tjente dem til føde da mitt folks datter gikk under.
- OTB
- Medfølende kvinner har kokt sine egne barn; de ble mat for dem under ødeleggelsen av mitt folk.
- B1930
- Ømhjertede kvinner kokte selv sine egne barn, de tjente dem til føde da mitt folks datter gikk under.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Isaiah 49:15
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
Read in contextLamentations 2:20
Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Read in context2 Kings 6:26–29
As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
Read in contextJeremiah 19:9
I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’
Read in contextLamentations 4:3
Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
Read in contextLamentations 3:48
Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Read in contextLeviticus 26:29
You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
Read in contextEzekiel 5:10
As a result, fathers among you will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments against you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.’
Read in context