Lamentations 4:3
What does Lamentations 4:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Lamentations 4:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Lamentations 4:3 means
Even wild animals are known to care for their young, yet the “daughter of my people” has become like ostriches, a proverbial picture of neglect. Siege conditions have stripped mothers of the ability—or even instinct—to nurture. The verse does not accuse ordinary women of natural cruelty; it shows how extreme suffering can deform what is most tender. Deprivation turns home into wilderness. By comparing Judah unfavorably with jackals, the prophet underlines how deeply judgment has disordered creation’s normal compassions. The once-compassionate community has become unrecognizable under the strain of famine, a sorrow not only for the children’s sake but as a sign that God’s protective blessings have been withdrawn.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Even 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.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Even 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Even 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Even the beasts of the waste land have full breasts, they give milk to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the waste land.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862Even dragons have drawn out the breast, They have suckled their young ones, The daughter of my people is become cruel, Like the ostriches in a wilderness.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostrich in the desert.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Even 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.
Context
Following the contrast of gold and clay, the lament narrows to the most vulnerable—infants and their mothers. Verse 3 uses animal imagery to stress how unnatural Judah’s condition has become. It prepares the reader for verse 4’s heartbreaking picture of parched infants and unanswered pleas for bread. These verses are not incidental details; they press the severity of the siege into the reader’s conscience. The flow moves from metaphor to visceral scenes, paving the way for the later theological explanation (verses 6 and 11–13) that such horrors are not accidents of war alone but God’s righteous judgment.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 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 on thee; and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds.
- Lamentations 2:20
See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou hast done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- 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 in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
- Luke 23:28
But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
- 2 Kings 6:26
And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.
- Isaiah 49:15
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
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