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.
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
1 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
2 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
3 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
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
5 tn Heb “the hands of compassionate women.”
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.
7 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
8 tn Heb “in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”