Discovery BoxLamentations 4:2-3 
Contextב (Bet)
4:2 The precious sons of Zion
were worth their weight in gold –
Alas! – but now they are treated like 1 broken clay pots,
made by a potter. 2
ג (Gimel)
4:3 Even the jackals 3 nurse their young
at their breast, 4
but my people 5 are cruel,
like ostriches 6 in the desert.
1 tn Heb “they are regarded as.”
2 tn Heb “the work of the hands of a potter.”
3 tn The noun תַּנִּין (tannin) means “jackals.” The plural ending ־ִין (-in) is diminutive (GKC 242 §87.e) (e.g., Lam 1:4).
4 tn Heb “draw out the breast and suckle their young.”
5 tn Heb “the daughter of my people.”
6 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
