³ By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,^[a] the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. ⁴ Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,^[b] the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped^[c] through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.^[d]

⁵ But the Babylonian^[e] troops chased the king and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered.