²⁶ As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

²⁷ The king replied, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?” ²⁸ Then he asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.’ ²⁹ So we cooked my son and ate^(A) him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin^[a] the plans^(A) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(B) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(C) as food^(D) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(E) all who pass by will be appalled^(F) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^{(G) 9} I will make them eat^(H) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(I) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’