Lamentations 4:4

4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaved to his palate in thirst; little children asked (for) bread, and none was that brake to them (but no one gave 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 noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how be they areckoned into earthen vessels, into the work of the hands of a potter? (The noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how they be reckoned like clay vessels, yea, the work of the hands of a potter!)

3 But also lamias made naked their teats, gave milk to their whelps; (but) the daughter of my people is cruel, as an ostrich in desert (like an ostrich in the wilderness).

4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaved to his palate in thirst; little children asked (for) bread, and none was that brake to them (but no one gave them any).

5 They that ate lustfully, perished in ways; they that were nourished in cradles, embraced turds. (They who ate lustfully, perished on the ways; they who were nourished in cradles, hung onto dung.)

6 And the wickedness of the daughter of my people is made more than the sin of (the) men of Sodom, that was destroyed in a moment, and hands took not therein.