In this verse the poet expresses another contrast, this time between the kindness of wild animals and the cruelty of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Even the jackals: Even serves here to introduce an unexpected comparison. There are two similar words found in Hebrew texts, one meaning jackals and the other “sea monster.” In the opinion of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project either word is admissible. However, in the context of ostriches and the wilderness, the Handbook takes the position that jackals is more likely to be correct. A jackal is a dog-like animal about the size of a fox. It is a scavenger and is hated by farmers for the destruction it causes to vineyards and gardens in the Middle East. The translator should consider these characteristics when selecting an equivalent animal. For example, translators may find similarities with such rodents as moles, squirrels, rats, and rabbits. Good News Translation translates jackals as “mother wolf,” which is probably an attempt to find a widely known and somewhat similar animal.
Gives the breast is literally “draw out the breast” and seems to suggest the act of a human mother taking out her breast from her dress or robe. If this is so, there is a process in the two half-lines rather than a parallelism. “Give its teat” or “offer its teat” may be more suitable in some languages. Bible en français courant says “Even jackals have a motherly instinct and suckle their young.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “Even the female jackal gives its teat and feeds its pup.”
The second pair of half-lines calls attention to the cruelty of the people who are contrasted to the nurturing jackals. In Hebrew there is no but to mark the contrast; however, most modern translations supply a contrast word. For daughter of my people see 2.11. Some interpreters alter daughter to make it plural, assuming it refers only to women. For example, New English Bible says “but the daughters of my people are cruel.” Some take daughter of my people to refer to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, while others see in this context a reference to mothers only, which is preferable in this context.
Cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness is a proverbial understanding of the ostrich as used in Job 39.14-18. It was assumed that the ostrich laid her eggs and abandoned them to be stepped on. Although the contrast of the jackal to the ostrich can be made clear (usually by supplying a footnote explaining the ostrich’s proverbial behavior), it is not clear in what way the mothers in Jerusalem (or the people) are cruel to their children, unless, of course, reference is made to verse 10, in which there is the picture of women cooking their babies. See also 2.20. By making the unfavorable comparison the poet appears to be saying that the mothers, or the people, neglect their babies.
The translation of like the ostriches will in many languages have to be shifted to a general term by saying something like “big birds” or “big birds called ostriches,” unless there is some local bird popularly looked upon as cruel for abandoning its eggs or young birds. The fact that ostriches do not normally abandon their eggs is not important. The poet is expressing a sense of cruelty that in traditional thinking was apparently associated with the ostrich. The whole verse may be translated, for example, “A mother jackal is kind enough to suckle her young, but the mothers of Jerusalem are cruel to their babies; they are like a big bird in the desert that abandons its eggs.”
Translators may find it helpful to supply a footnote, such as in Bible en français courant, which says “The ostrich had the reputation of being a bad mother, because she left her eggs to incubate in the sun; compare Job 39.14-16.”
Wilderness refers to the desert or to uninhabited areas with very little vegetation. It may sometimes be translated “place where people do not live” or “place where nothing will grow.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on Lamentations. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .