53 Then you will have to eat your own children,* the flesh of your sons and your daughters+ whom Jehovah your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege and the distress your enemy inflicts on you.

54 “Even the most delicate and sensitive man among you will have no pity on his brother or his cherished wife or his sons who remain, 55 and he will not share with them any of the flesh of his sons that he will eat, because he has nothing else on account of the severity of the siege and the distress your enemy inflicts on your cities.+ 56 And the delicate and sensitive woman among you who would not even think of putting the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate+ will show no pity to her cherished husband or her son or her daughter, 57 even toward the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the sons she bears, for she will secretly eat them because of the severity of the siege and the distress your enemy inflicts on your cities.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe+ in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.+ 4 The city wall was broken through,+ and all the soldiers fled by night through the gate between the double wall near the king’s garden, while the Chal·deʹans were surrounding the city; and the king went by the way of the Arʹa·bah.+ 5 But the Chal·deʹan army pursued the king, and they overtook him in the desert plains of Jerʹi·cho, and all his troops were scattered from his side. 6 Then they seized the king+ and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Ribʹlah, and they passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered Zed·e·kiʹah’s sons before his eyes; then Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar blinded Zed·e·kiʹah’s eyes, bound him with copper fetters, and brought him to Babylon.+

16 He then said to me: “Son of man, here I am cutting off your food supply* in Jerusalem,+ and with great anxiety they will eat their bread ration by weight,+ and in horror they will drink their water ration by measure.+