Ezekiel 23:34

Cf. Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17.

break the sheards gnaw the sherds. The act of plucking out her own breasts is that of one intoxicated to madness, Jeremiah 25:16. The words are wanting in LXX. Beating the breasts and tearing the cheeks was a sign of excessive grief (Hamasa, p. 373). "The women rent the breast of their dress, went half-naked, tore their faces, and beat their skin till it was lacerated with shoes (Aghani, xiv. 101, 28; xv. 139, 6; Hudh. 139, 3)," Well., Skizzen, iii. p. 160.