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.

The LORD said, "Look how proud the women of Jerusalem are! They walk along with their noses in the air. They are always flirting. They take dainty little steps, and the bracelets on their ankles jingle.

A day is coming when the Lord will take away from the women of Jerusalem everything they are so proud of---the ornaments they wear on their ankles, on their heads, on their necks,

and their hats; the magic charms they wear on their arms and at their waists;

all their fine robes, gowns, cloaks, and purses;

Instead of using perfumes, they will stink; instead of fine belts, they will wear coarse ropes; instead of having beautiful hair, they will be bald; instead of fine clothes, they will be dressed in rags; their beauty will be turned to shame!

The city gates will mourn and cry, and the city itself will be like a woman sitting on the ground, stripped naked.

So God has pronounced a curse on the earth. Its people are paying for what they have done. Fewer and fewer remain alive.

and the joyful music of their harps and drums has ceased.

In the city everything is in chaos, and people lock themselves in their houses for safety.

The city is in ruins, and its gates have been broken down.

You women who live an easy life, free from worries, listen to what I am saying.

You have been living an easy life, free from worries; but now, tremble with fear! Strip off your clothes and tie rags around your waist.

and thorn bushes and briers are growing on my people's land. Weep for all the houses where people were happy and for the city that was full of life.

The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;

kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.

You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer.

You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps.

So you will be the first to go into exile. Your feasts and banquets will come to an end.

What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that and live in luxury are found in palaces!

But a widow who gives herself to pleasure has already died, even though she lives.

Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: 'Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief !'

The kings of the earth who took part in her immorality and lust will cry and weep over the city when they see the smoke from the flames that consume her.

"Women of Israel, mourn for Saul! He clothed you in rich scarlet dresses and adorned you with jewels and gold.

She doesn't worry when it snows, because her family has warm clothing.

"There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day.

They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains, and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.

Death has come in through our windows and entered our palaces; it has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the marketplaces.

Dead bodies are scattered everywhere, like piles of manure on the fields, like grain cut and left behind by the reapers, grain that no one gathers. This is what the LORD has told me to say."

He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.