Lamentations 4:3

¹ How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

² How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!

Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.

⁴ The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

⁵ Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

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: Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
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.
WEB: Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
ASV: Even the jackals 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.
DARBY: Even the jackals offer the breast, they give suck to their young; the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
BLB: Even the jackals draw out the breast [and] suckle their young, [but] the daughter of my people [is] cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.

ÅB: Endog sjakaler rekker bryst, gir sine unger die; mitt folks datter er blitt grusom som strutsen i ørkenen.
OTB: Selv sjakaler gir die til sine unger, men mitt folk har blitt grusomme som strutser i ørkenen.
B1930: Endog sjakaler rekker bryst, gir sine unger die; mitt folks datter er blitt grusom som strutsen i ørkenen.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Luke 23:28–29
But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Read in context
Ezekiel 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
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Read in context
Lamentations 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 context
Job 39:13–16
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
Read in context
Jeremiah 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 context
Deuteronomy 28:52–57
They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.
Read in context
2 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 context