Lamentations 2 · Verse 12

Lamentations 2:12

They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.

Lamentations 2:12, King James Version

Lamentations 2:12 in other translations

BSB	They cry out to their mothers: “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.
WEB	They ask their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
ASV	They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, When their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
YLT	To their mothers they say, ‘Where are corn and wine?' In their becoming feeble as a pierced one In the broad places of the city, In their soul pouring itself out into the bosom of their mothers.
DARBY	They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city; when they pour out their soul into their mothers' bosom.
BBE	They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they are falling like the wounded in the open squares of the town, when their life is drained out on their mother's breast.
Webster	They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

What does Lamentations 2:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

12. as the wounded--famine being as deadly as the sword (Jr 52:6). soul ... poured ... into ... mothers bosom--Instinctively turning to their mother's bosom, but finding no milk there, they breathe out their life as it were "into her bosom." Mem.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12 When their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom - When, in endeavoring to draw nourishment from the breasts of their exhausted mothers, they breathed their last in their bosoms! How dreadfully afflicting was this!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Lamentations 2:10-22

Causes for lamentation are described. Multitudes perished by famine. Even little children were slain by their mother's hands, and eaten, according to the threatening, Deut. 28:53. Multitudes fell by the sword. Their false prophets deceived them. And their neighbours laughed at them. It is a great sin to jest at others' miseries, and adds much affliction to the afflicted. Their enemies triumphed over them. The…

Read the full comment on Lamentations 2:10-22 →

Lamentations 2:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לְאִמֹּתָם֙le.'i.mo.Tamto mothers theirH517

יֹֽאמְר֔וּyo.me.Ruthey sayH559

אַיֵּ֖ה'ai.Yehwhere?H346

דָּגָ֣ןda.Gan[are] grainH1715

וָיָ֑יִןva.Ya.yinand wineH3196

בְּהִֽתְעַטְּפָ֤םbe.hit.'a.te.Famwhen faint away theyH5848

כֶּֽחָלָל֙ke.cha.Lallike <the> [one] fatally woundedH2491

בִּרְחֹב֣וֹתbir.cho.Votin [the] open places ofH7339

עִ֔יר'Ira cityH5892

בְּהִשְׁתַּפֵּ֣ךְbe.hish.ta.Pekhwhen pours itself outH8210

נַפְשָׁ֔םnaf.Shamlife theirH5315

אֶל\־'el-toH413

חֵ֖יקcheik[the] bosom ofH2436

אִמֹּתָֽם\׃\ \ס'i.mo.Tammothers theirH517

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Lamentations 2:12

Ezekiel 30:24
And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
Isaiah 53:12
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

as the.
Eze 30:24
soul.
Isa 53:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Lamentations 2:11
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
Lamentations 2:12
They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
Lamentations 2:13
What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?

Read all of Lamentations 2

Lamentations 2:12 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Decían á sus madres: ¿Dónde está el trigo y el vino? Desfallecían como heridos en las calles de la ciudad, derramando sus almas en el regazo de sus madres.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Ils disent à leurs mères: Où est le blé et le vin? – défaillant dans les places de la ville comme des blessés à mort, et rendant l’âme sur le sein de leurs mères.
German Elberfelder 1871	Zu ihren Müttern sagen sie: Wo ist Korn und Wein? indem sie wie tödlich Verwundete hinschmachten auf den Straßen der Stadt, indem ihre Seele sich ergießt in den Busen ihrer Mütter.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Matribus suis dixerunt: Ubi est triticum et vinum? cum deficerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis, cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum suarum.