The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask bread, and no one breaks it for them.
Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her.
Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.
Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick.
Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.
The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–10 He says that sucking children were so thirsty, that…
He says that sucking children were so thirsty, that the tongue was as it were fixed to the palate; and it was a dreadful thing; for mothers would willingly pour forth their own blood to feed their infants. When, therefore, the tongue of a child clave to his mouth, it seemed to be in a manner beyond nature. Among other calamities, then, the Prophet names this, that infants pined away with thirst, and also that children sought bread in vain. He speaks not in the latter instance of sucklings, but. of children three or four years old. Then he says that they sought or asked for bread, but that there was no one to give.
He describes here the famine of the city, of which he had predicted, when he declared that it would be better with the slain than with the people remaining alive, for a harder conflict with famine and want would await the living. But this was not believed. Now, then, the Prophet upbraids the Jews with their former perverseness. He afterwards adds, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 9 Or, no strength was against her.
Or, no strength was against her.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–10 Lam 4:4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth…
Lam 4:4 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.
Ver. 4. The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth.] For want of suck. That was a miracle which is recorded of the old woman of Bolton, in Lancashire, who took up a poor child that lay crying at the breasts of her dead mother - slain, among many others, by Prince Rupert’s party - and laying it to her own dry breasts, that had not yielded suck for above twenty years before, on purpose to still it, had milk came to nourish it, to the admiration and astonishment of all beholders. This and another like example of God’s good providence for the relief of little ones whom their mothers could not relieve, may be read of in Mr Clark’s "Mirror for Saints and Sinners," edit. 3, fol. 495, 507.
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And no man breaketh it unto them.] The parents either not having it for them, or not having a heart to part with it to them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–10 As the fatness of the mother’s milk makes it…
As the fatness of the mother’s milk makes it instead of bread and flesh to the sucking child, so the moisture of it makes it to be as drink to allay its heat; the children wanting this moisture, their mouths were hot and dry. It was a time of famine; the little children, understanding not-the case of the city, were importunate for something to eat, but none had enough for himself, much less for others. See Lam 2:12,13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–10 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the…
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst,.... Through want of the milk of the breast, which is both food and drink unto it:
the young children ask bread; of their parents as usual, not knowing how the case was, that there was a famine in the city; these are such as were more grown, were weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts, and lived on other food, and were capable of asking for it:
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and no man breaketh it unto them: distributes unto them, or gives them a piece of bread; not father, friend, or any other person; it not being in their power to do it, they having none for themselves.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6–8 Of Sodom - Their punishment was greater, because more…
Of Sodom - Their punishment was greater, because more lingering, and gradual, whereas Sodom was overthrown in a moment, and that by no human hands that abode upon her, causing her a continued torment.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 10 Verse 4. The tongue of the sucking child] See…
Verse 4. The tongue of the sucking child] See Clarke on La 2:12.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10 Lam 4:6. For the punishment, &c., is greater than…
Lam 4:6. For the punishment, &c., is greater than the punishment of Sodom — The fate of Sodom was less deplorable than that of Jerusalem; for Sodom was destroyed in an instant; but Jerusalem endured a long siege, and suffered all the miseries of famine, sickness, and hostile arms. In Sodom all were destroyed together, and none left to mourn in bitterness of soul the sad loss of their dearest friends; in Jerusalem many survived to mourn the deplorable fate of their friends and country, and to suffer the ignominy and miseries of captivity. The original of the last clause, ידים לא חלו בה, is rendered by the LXX., και ουκ επονεσαν εν αυτη
χειρας, they did not cause hands to labour, or be weary, in her: and by Blaney, nor were hands weakened in her.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 10 They that were brought up in scarlet - literally,…
They that were brought up in scarlet - literally, “those that were carried upon scarlet;” young children in arms and of the highest birth now lie on the dirt-heaps of the city.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5–10 Scarlet. Literally, "yellow;" croceis. (Haydock) --- Hebrew means purple.…
Scarlet. Literally, "yellow;" croceis. (Haydock) --- Hebrew means purple. Those who have been educated in the most delicate manner, are forced to feed on the most disgusting things, 4 Kings vi. 25., and xviii. 27., and Deuteronomy xxviii. 54.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–10 thirst--The mothers have no milk to give through the…
thirst--The mothers have no milk to give through the famine.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 10 4. The tongue… cleaveth to the roof — The…
4. The tongue… cleaveth to the roof — The most graphic and fearfully expressive feature of the common misery is brought to view in this unnatural conduct of parents, leaving the sucking child and young children to famish for want of proper nutriment.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–10 5. delicately] luxuriously. Children are still the subject, and…
5. delicately] luxuriously. Children are still the subject, and not, as has been suggested, rich persons. In the latter case we should have to render carried on scarlet (i.e. litters or couches furnished with costly stuffs of that colour), unduly forcing the sense of the Heb. verb.
desolate] See on ch. Lam_3:11.
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embrace dunghills] for want of a better couch.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–10 (5) They that were brought up . . .—Literally,…
(5) They that were brought up . . .—Literally, that were carried (as children are carried). “Scarlet” as in 2Sa_1:24, stands for the shawls or garments of the rich, dyed, as they were, in the Tyrian purple or crimson. Those that had been once wrapped in such shawls now threw themselves, “embracing” them as their only refuge, on dunghills.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–10 Breaketh it unto them. The Jewish bread, consisting of…
Breaketh it unto them. The Jewish bread, consisting of round or oval cakes. (comp. 1Ki_19:6)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 7, 9 The tongue of the nursing baby sticks to the…
The tongue of the nursing baby sticks to the roof of his mouth by thirst
"Nursing babies are so thirsty that their tongues stick to the top of their mouths"
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feast on
"eat much"
now starve in the streets
These people no longer have homes, so they live outside along the streets.
Those who were brought up wearing scarlet clothing
This can be stated in active form. AT: "those who grew up wearing scarlet clothing" or "those who wore scarlet clothing when they were growing up" (See: Active or Passive)
scarlet clothing
Here this phrase is a metonym for luxurious, expensive, and comfortable clothing, at least some of which was probably scarlet. AT: "luxurious clothing"
now lie on piles of ashes
This is because they no longer have homes and soft beds.
translationWords
feast
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7–9 4:7 like fine jewels: (literally like lapis lazuli): Lapis…
4:7 like fine jewels: (literally like lapis lazuli): Lapis lazuli is a beautiful blue stone that is soft enough to carve. It is often used in decorations and mosaics.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.