Lamentations 4:2-4

New English Translation

²The precious sons of Zion
were worth their weight in gold—
Alas!—but now they are treated like^[a] broken clay pots,
made by a potter.^[b]

³Even the jackals^[c] nurse their young
at their breast,^[d]
but my people^[e] are cruel,
like ostriches^[f] in the wilderness.

⁴The infant’s tongue sticks
to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;
little children beg for bread,^[g]
but no one gives them even a morsel.^[h]

Lamentations 4:2 tn Heb “they are regarded as.”
Lamentations 4:2 tn Heb “the work of the hands of a potter.”
Lamentations 4:3 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
Lamentations 4:3 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
Lamentations 4:3 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
Lamentations 4:3 tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ʿenim) is by all accounts a variation from an original text of כַּיְעֵנִים (kayʿenim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.
Lamentations 4:4 tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” might function as a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for general (= food); however, the following parallel line does indeed focus on the act of breaking bread in two.
Lamentations 4:4 tn Heb “there is not a divider to them.” The term “divider” refers to the action of breaking bread in two before giving it to a person to eat (Isa 58:7; Jer 16:7; Lam 4:4).

New English Translation (NET)