By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

四月初九日，城里有大饥荒，甚至百姓都没有粮食。

四月初九，城里的饥荒非常严重，当地的百姓都没有粮食。

四月初九，城里的饥荒非常严重，当地的百姓都没有粮食。

那年四月九日，城里饥荒非常严重，百姓无粮可吃。

四月九日，城里饥荒非常严重，甚至那地的人民都断了粮食。

四月初九日，城裏有大饑荒，甚至百姓都沒有糧食。

四月初九，城裏的饑荒非常嚴重，當地的百姓都沒有糧食。

四月初九，城裏的饑荒非常嚴重，當地的百姓都沒有糧食。

那年四月九日，城裡饑荒非常嚴重，百姓無糧可吃。

四月九日，城裡饑荒非常嚴重，甚至那地的人民都斷了糧食。

四月九日、城裏大鬧饑荒，甚至當地的人民都沒有糧食。

四月九日、邑中饑甚、斯土之民絕糧、

四月九日、邑民糧罄饑甚。

四月九日、城中之民絕糧、饑甚、

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.

By the ninth day of the fourth month, there wasn’t any food left in the city. So the people didn’t have anything to eat.

On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.

On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food.

And on the ninth[ day] of the[ fourth] month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword.

There is war outside the city and disease and famine within. Those outside the city walls will be killed by enemy swords. Those inside the city will die of famine and disease.

They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land— the walls you trusted to protect you— are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lord your God has given you.“ The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.

“ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem— war, famine, wild animals, and disease— destroying all her people and animals.

“ This is what the Lord says:‘ Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’

I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.

The parched tongues of their little ones stick to the roofs of their mouths in thirst. The children cry for bread, but no one has any to give them.The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.The guilt of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment and no hand offered help.Our princes once glowed with health— brighter than snow, whiter than milk. Their faces were as ruddy as rubies, their appearance like fine jewels.But now their faces are blacker than soot. No one recognizes them in the streets. Their skin sticks to their bones; it is as dry and hard as wood.Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. Starving, they waste away for lack of food from the fields.Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege.

By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone.

“ Now go and get some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer wheat, and mix them together in a storage jar. Use them to make bread for yourself during the 390 days you will be lying on your side.Ration this out to yourself, eight ounces of food for each day, and eat it at set times.Then measure out a jar of water for each day, and drink it at set times.Prepare and eat this food as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread.”Then the Lord said,“ This is how Israel will eat defiled bread in the Gentile lands to which I will banish them!”Then I said,“ O Sovereign Lord, must I be defiled by using human dung? For I have never been defiled before. From the time I was a child until now I have never eaten any animal that died of sickness or was killed by other animals. I have never eaten any meat forbidden by the law.”“ All right,” the Lord said.“ You may bake your bread with cow dung instead of human dung.”Then he told me,“ Son of man, I will make food very scarce in Jerusalem. It will be weighed out with great care and eaten fearfully. The water will be rationed out drop by drop, and the people will drink it with dismay.Lacking food and water, people will look at one another in terror, and they will waste away under their punishment.

Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive.

So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. Instead, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. The king also commanded that Jeremiah be given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was put in the palace prison.

“ This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.

Two and a half years later, on July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign, a section of the city wall was broken down.