John Calvin Commentary Lamentations 2:12

"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." — Lamentations 2:12 (ASV)

There is either a personification in the words of the Prophet, or he is speaking of a different group. He cannot be referring to children nursing at their mothers’ breasts, because they could not have expressly said, Where is corn and wine? and wine is not allowed for infants.

The Prophet's words, then, extend further, for not infants, but children somewhat older, could have spoken in this way. In this view, there is nothing unreasonable or forced, for he spoke of little children, and to little children he added infants.

And now he refers only to one group: children who could speak and complained to their mothers that there was no bread or wine—that is, no means of support, no food.

If, however, anyone prefers a personification, I do not object. This view would not be unsuitable: that even infants by their silence cried for food, for the tears of children speak more effectively than when one uses words.

However this may be, the Prophet implies that the scarcity was so great that children died in their mothers' arms, sought food in vain, and cried out that they were without support. He then says that they said to their mothers; by this expression, he means that their complaints were all the more pitiful because their mothers could not help them.

We know how tender and affectionate the feelings of mothers are, for a mother would willingly nourish her own child not only with her milk but even, if possible, with her life. Therefore, when the Prophet says that children cried to their mothers, he means to represent a sad sight, one which should rightly cause horror in everyone's mind. Where is bread and wine? he says, even when they vanished away (some say “fainted,” but I prefer, as I have said, this rendering) as a dead man in the streets; and further, when they poured out—a sadder thing still—when they poured out their souls into the bosom of their mothers.