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

And the city was broken up, and all the men of war went out by night by the way of the gate, between the wall and the outworks, which were by the king's garden. And the Chaldeans were by the city round about; and they went by the way [leading] to the wilderness.

RHECHS. Behold, O Lord; for I am afflicted; my belly is troubled, and my heart is turned within me; for I have been grievously rebellious; abroad the sword has bereaved me, even as death at home.

TETH. The slain with the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger; they have departed, pierced through from lack of the fruits of the field.

[There shall be] war with the sword without, and famine and pestilence within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword, and famine and pestilence shall destroy them that are in the city.

For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all dealt falsely.

Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to [new] inheritors; and they shall gather their fruits, says the Lord.

I sent not the prophets, yet they ran: neither did I speak to them, yet they prophesied.

The Lord shall carry away you and your princes, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers know; and there shall you serve other gods, [of] wood and stone.

And the Lord your God shall scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall serve other gods [of] wood and stone, which you knew not, nor your fathers.

For these have trespassed through wine; they have erred through strong drink; the priest and the prophet are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have staggered through drunkenness; they have erred; this is [their] vision.

MEM. For the sins of her prophets, and iniquities of her priests, who shed righteous blood in the midst of her,

SAMECH. Depart from the unclean ones; call them: depart, depart, touch [them] not: for they are on fire, yea, they stagger. Say among the nations, They shall no more sojourn [there].

The priest said not, Where is the Lord? And they that held by the law knew Me not: the shepherds also sinned against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after that which profited not.

the prophets utter unrighteous prophecies, and the priests have clapped their hands, and My people have loved it! And what will you do for the future?

Their heads have judged for gifts, and their priests have answered for hire, and her prophets have divined for silver: and yet they have rested on the Lord, saying, Is not the Lord among us? No evil shall come upon us.

And by covetousness they will exploit you with fabricated words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction will not sleep.