Lamentations Women and Femininity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter:Verse)

Quote #4

The Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter Judah. (NRSV 1:15)

The Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. (KJV 1:15)

This is a pretty striking passage. The defiling of virgins is as bad as it gets.

Quote #5

The young girls of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. (NRSV 2:10)

The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. (KJV 2:10)

The young maidens seem to represent the beauty and innocence of the city that is now crushed. They're the public mourners. This is often a role assigned to women in many cultures.

Quote #6

Infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom. What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you? (NRSV 2:11-13)

Children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. 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 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? (KJV  2:11-13)

That's the ultimate in suffering for a mother, to be unable to protect or nurture her children.