"I called to my allies, but they refused to help me. The priests and the leaders died in the city streets, Looking for food to keep themselves alive.

Hungry and thirsty, they cry to their mothers; They fall in the streets as though they were wounded, And slowly die in their mothers' arms.

They let their babies die of hunger and thirst; children are begging for food that no one will give them.

My people have been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom, which met a sudden downfall at the hands of God.

Now they lie unknown in the streets, their faces blackened in death; their skin, dry as wood, has shriveled on their bones.

The disaster that came to my people brought horror; loving mothers boiled their own children for food.

They will attack every town in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and the high, fortified walls in which you trust will fall.

Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.

Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way. When the enemy besieges her town, she will become so desperate for food that she will secretly eat her newborn child and the afterbirth as well. She will not share them with the husband she loves or with any of her children.

As a result of the siege the food shortage in the city was so severe that a donkey's head cost eighty pieces of silver, and half a pound of dove's dung cost five pieces of silver.

The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children."

"Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city."

On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat,

So God said, "Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that."

They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins."

I will cut off your supply of food and let you starve. You will feel the pains of hunger like sharp arrows sent to destroy you.

I will send hunger and wild animals to kill your children, and will send sickness, violence, and war to kill you. I, the LORD, have spoken."

The men with David found a young Egyptian out in the country and brought him to David. They gave him some food and water,

some dried figs, and two bunches of raisins. After he had eaten, his strength returned; he had not had anything to eat or drink for three full days.

Her uncleanness was easily seen, but she showed no concern for her fate. Her downfall was terrible; no one can comfort her. Her enemies have won, and she cries to the LORD for mercy.

"Look, O LORD, at my agony, at the anguish of my soul! My heart is broken in sorrow for my sins. There is murder in the streets; even indoors there is death.

Look, O LORD! Why are you punishing us like this? Women are eating the bodies of the children they loved! Priests and prophets are being killed in the Temple itself !

(SEE 40:3)

I look to the LORD for help at all times, and he rescues me from danger.

Relieve me of my worries and save me from all my troubles.

See how many enemies I have; see how much they hate me.