Lamentations 4:10

 Lamentations 4:10

The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

a. ASV: The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children;

They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT:  The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children, They have been for food to them, In the destruction of the daughter of my people.  [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: The hands of [heretofore] compassionate women have boiled their own children; they were their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah]. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. NLT: Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them

to survive the siege.  [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

e. NIV: With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.  [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

1. “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children…”

a. [The] hands [Strong: 3027 yâd, yawd; a primitive word; a hand (the open one [indicating power, means, direction, etc.], in distinction from 3709, the closed one); used (as noun, adverb, etc.) in a great variety of applications, both literally and figuratively, both proximate and remote [as follows]:—( be) able, × about, armholes, at, axletree, because of, beside, border, × bounty, broad, (broken-) handed, × by, charge, coast, consecrate, creditor, custody, debt, dominion, × enough, fellowship, force, × from, hand(-staves, -y work), × he, himself, × in, labour, large, ledge, (left-) handed, means, × mine, ministry, near, × of, × order, ordinance, × our, parts, pain, power, × presumptuously, service, side, sore, state, stay, draw with strength, stroke, swear, terror, × thee, × by them, × themselves, × thine own, × thou, through, × throwing, thumb, times, × to, × under, × us, × wait on, (way-) side, where, wide, × with (him, me, you), work, yield, × yourselves.]

b. [of the] pitiful [Strong: 7362 rachmânîy, rakh-maw-nee'; from H7355; compassionate:—pitiful.]

c. women [Strong: 802 ʼishshâh, ish-shaw'; feminine of H376 or H582; irregular plural, נָשִׁים nâshîym;(used in the same wide sense as H582) a woman:—(adulter) ess, each, every, female, × many, none, one, together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

d. [have] sudden [Strong: 1310 bâshal, baw-shal'; a primitive root; properly, to boil up; hence, to be done in cooking; figuratively to ripen:—bake, boil, bring forth, roast, seethe, sod (be sodden).

e. [their own] children [Strong: 3206 yeled, yeh'-led; from H3205; something born, i.e. a lad or offspring:—boy, child, fruit, son, young man (one).]

2. “...they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

a. [they] were [Strong: hâyâh, haw-yaw; a primitive root (compare H1933); to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary):—beacon, × altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, follow, happen, × have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, × use.]

b. [their] meat [Strong: 1262 bârâh, baw-raw'; a primitive root; to select; also (as denominative from H1250) to feed; also (as equivalent to H1305) to render clear (Ecclesiastes 3:18) to select; to feed; to render clear:—choose, (cause to) eat, manifest, (give) meat.]

c. [in the] destruction [Strong: 7667 sheber, sheh'-ber; or שֵׁבֶר shêber; from H7665; a fracture, figuratively, ruin; specifically, a solution (of a dream):—affliction, breach, breaking, broken(-footed, -handed), bruise, crashing, destruction, hurt, interpretation, vexation.]

d. [of the] daughter [Strong: 1323 bath, bath; from H1129 (as feminine of H1121); a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively):—apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter, × first, × old, owl, town, village.]

e. [of my] people [Strong: 5971 ʻam, am; from H6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:—folk, men, nation, people.]

1). This happened at least twice to Israel in the Biblical record, when Syria besieged Samaria (2 Kings 6:24-31), and when Babylon besieged Jerusalem. Though not recorded explicitly in the verses of 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles, here Jeremiah mentions it. 

a). Lamentations 4:10  The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

b). 2 Kings 6:24-31 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

6:25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.

6:26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king.

6:27 And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?

6:28 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.

6:29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

6:30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.

6:31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.

2). Moses prophesied right before he died that Israel would experience this because of their disobedience.

a). Deuteronomy 28:52-57  And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

28:54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:

28:55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

28:56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

27:57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, The Lord Thy God;

28:59 Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

3). Troy Edwards, The Permissive Sense: Most people have read this list (Deuteronomy 28:16-68) with the erroneous idea that God will use His divine creative power to bring about these curses. Nevertheless, when we use the principle of interpreting the Bible with the Bible, we learn that these curses will come because God is  forsaking His people and withdrawing His protection. 

a). Deuteronomy 31:16-18 And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?