Lamentations 4:3 Meaning and Explanation
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Even wild creatures nurse their young, but famine has made the people seem as heartless as the ostrich.
What Does Lamentations 4:3 Mean?
The poet reaches for a startling comparison. Even 'the sea monsters,' the great creatures of the deep, nurse their young; even the fiercest beasts show this basic tenderness. But 'the daughter of my people is become cruel,' driven by famine to a hardness that seems to fall below even the animals.
'Like the ostriches in the wilderness' draws on the ancient belief that the ostrich neglects its eggs, seeming careless of its young. The poet does not mean the mothers were heartless by nature; he means that starvation has stripped them of the ability to care for their children, an unnatural cruelty forced upon them by unbearable need. The verse measures the depth of the catastrophe by how it has deformed even a mother's love, the most natural tenderness of all.
Frequently Asked Questions About Lamentations 4:3
What does Lamentations 4:3 mean?
Even wild creatures nurse their young, but famine has made the people seem as heartless as the ostrich.