Thomas Aquinas 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)

Here he exposes the course of their death in order to arouse greater mercy.

1. The petition they make to their mothers: where is corn and wine?, as if they were dying: “Give us food to eat.” The little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it for them (Lamentations 4:4).

2. The reason for their asking: when they fainted away, because they were dying of hunger; in the streets, as if in the sight of all, and nobody could remedy it. He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence (Jeremiah 21:9).

3. Their most bitter death: when they breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers. She set him on her knees until noon, and then he died (2 Kings 4:20).