Lamentations 4:3

¹ How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

² The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

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.

⁴ The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.

⁵ They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

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 turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
Read in context
Ezekiel 5:10
Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
Read in context
Lamentations 4:10
The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Read in context
Lamentations 2:20
Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Read in context
Job 39:13–16
Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
Read in context
Jeremiah 19:9
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 28:52–57
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Read in context
2 Kings 6:26–29
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
Read in context