Lamentations 4:3

ג (Gimel)

4:3 Even the jackals ¹  nurse their young

at their breast, ² 

but my people ³  are cruel,

like ostriches ⁴  in the desert.

Lamentations 4:10

י (Yod)

4:10 The hands of tenderhearted women ⁵ 

cooked their own children,

who became their food, ⁶ 

when my people ⁷  were destroyed. ⁸ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).

[4:3]  ² tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”

[4:3]  ³ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:3]  ⁴ tc The MT Kethib form כִּי עֵנִים (ki ’enim) is by all accounts a textual corruption for כַּיְעֵנִים (kay’enim, “like ostriches”) which is preserved in the Qere and the medieval Hebrew mss, and reflected in the LXX.

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”

[4:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “eating.” The infinitive construct (from I בָּרָה, barah) is translated as a noun. Three passages employ the verb (2 Sam 3:35; 12:17; 13:5,6,10) for eating when ill or in mourning.

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”