Lamentations 4:4

4 When our babies get thirsty, their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. When our children beg for bread, no one gives them any.

Lamentations 4:4 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 4:4

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: [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.

Lamentations 4:4 In-Context

2 The priceless children of Zion were worth their weight in gold. But now they are thought of as clay pots made by the hands of a potter.

3 Even wild dogs nurse their young pups. But my people are as mean as ostriches in the desert.

4 When our babies get thirsty, their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. When our children beg for bread, no one gives them any.

5 Those who once ate fine food are dying in the streets. Those who wore fancy clothes are now lying on piles of trash.

6 My people have been punished more than Sodom was. It was destroyed in a moment. No one offered it a helping hand.