Thomas Aquinas Commentary Lamentations 4:5

"They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: They that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills." — Lamentations 4:5 (ASV)

Here, the author describes the hunger of those who once ate luxuriously.

1. He presents the affliction of their hunger.
2. He presents a comparison: and the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom (Lamentations 4:6).

Their hunger is shown by two signs: death (they have died) and the consumption of coarse foods. Those who were brought up in scarlet, when food was withdrawn from their mouths, have embraced the dung—that is, they threw themselves on coarse food. This can be understood literally (2 Kings 6:24–29) or as a simile, as in the proverb: a soul that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet (Proverbs 27:7).