Lamentations 4:9 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

For want of... — The italics indicate the difficulty of the sentence. Literally the clause stands, from the fruits of the field, and it has been explained by some as referring to those that died in battle, stricken through while yet there were fruits, i.e., not doomed to perish slowly from hunger. The construction of Psalms 109:24, however, “faileth of fatness” — i.e., for want of fatness — gives a sufficient support to the Authorised version.