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 the 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.+