Lamentations 4:4

4 The tongue of the nursling cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.

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 precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!

3 Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4 The tongue of the nursling cleaves to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.

5 Those who feasted on dainties perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple lie on ash heaps.

6 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, no hand being laid on it.