Bible Strands
Lamentations 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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses the remnant of Judah during the final stages of the Babylonian siege. The moment captures the peak of urban collapse and starvation following Jerusalem's destruction.
The words — The text cites תַּנִּים (ta.nin, jackals) that draw out (חָלְצוּ, chal.tzu) their breasts (שַׁד, shad) to suckle (הֵינִיקוּ, hei.niku) their young (גּוּרֵיהֶן, gu.rei.hen). These lexical items establish a baseline of untamed maternal instinct to contrast with the nation's condition.
The thread — The inversion of maternal care and famine-driven cannibalism recurs in Lamentations 2:20 and Ezekiel 5:10. Jesus later redirects attention to the daughters of Jerusalem regarding impending judgment in Luke 23:28.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that starvation has overridden natural compassion, rendering the people more ruthless than wild beasts. It demands a sober assessment of how covenant judgment dismantles fundamental human bonds.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 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.’
- Luke 23:28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
- 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?
- 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.
- Leviticus 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
- Deuteronomy 28:52 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.
- 2 Kings 6:26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
- Job 39:13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
- 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.’
- 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!