Texts in Conversation
Lamentations contrasts compassionate jackals with the cruelty of the people, comparing them to ostriches in the wilderness. The Greek version replaces jackals with dragons and ostriches with a sparrow, reshaping the imagery.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Lamentations 4:3
Hebrew Bible
1 א (Alef) Alas! Gold has lost its luster; pure gold loses value. Jewels are scattered on every street corner. 2 ב (Bet) The precious sons of Zion were worth their weight in gold—Alas!—but now they are treated like broken clay pots, made by a potter. 3 ג (Gimel) Even the jackals nurse their young at their breast, but my people are cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness. 4 ד (Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel. 5 ה (He) Those who once feasted on delicacies are now starving to death in the streets. Those who grew up wearing expensive clothes are now dying amid garbage.
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Lamentations 4:3
Septuagint
1 ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, and the fine silver changed! the sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets. 2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, who were equaled in value with gold, how are they counted as earthen vessels, the works of the hands of the potter! 3 GIMEL. Even dragons have drawn out the breasts, they give suck to their young, the daughters of my people are incurably cruel, as a sparrow in a desert. 4 DALETH. The tongue of the sucking child clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst: the little children ask for bread, and there is none to break it to them. 5 HE. They that feed on dainties are desolate in the streets: they that used to be nursed in scarlet have clothed themselves with dung.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Greek text of the verse, in the critical edition prepared by Ziegler (2006:487), reads as follows ... This translation has both “literal” traits and marks of the translator’s initiative. Its text follows the word order of the Masoretic Text and all the clause constituents of the Hebrew consonantal text are represented in the translation ... The translator, however, did not translate all the words and phrases of the verse literally. He adjusted the number of nouns and rendered גוריהן not as the object of היניקו, but as the subject of the verb. Furthermore, the two readings δράκοντες and θυγατέρες λαοῦ μου stand out, because they differ from their opposite numbers in the Masoretic text and affect the content of the Greek version of the verse. They contribute to the fact that the meaning of LXX Lamentations 4:3 is not the same as its sense in the Masoretic Text ..."
Gideon R. Kotzé, “Daughters and Dragons in LXX Lamentations 4:3,” JNSL 40.2 (2014): 159–182.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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