¹⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to let loose on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.^(A)

⁸ But thus says the Lord: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.^{(A) 9} I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.^{(B) 10} And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.^(C)

¹⁸ I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of cursing and horror and hissing and a derision among all the nations where I have driven them,^(A)

²³ Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people;

¹¹ there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

¹² The word of the Lord came to me: ¹³ Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly and I stretch out my hand against it and cut off its supply of bread^[a] and send famine upon it and cut off from it humans and animals,^{(A) 14} even if Noah, Daniel,^[b] and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God.^{(B) 15} If I send wild animals through the land to ravage it so that it is made desolate and no one may pass through because of the animals,^{(C) 16} even if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword pass through the land,” and I cut off humans and animals from it,^{(D) 18} though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. ¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it,^{(E) 20} even if Noah, Daniel,^[c] and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!^(F)

¹² One third of you shall die of pestilence or be consumed by famine among you; one third shall fall by the sword around you; and one third I will scatter to every wind and will unsheathe the sword after them.^(A)

¹³ “My anger shall spend itself, and I will vent my fury on them and satisfy myself, and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy when I spend my fury on them.^{(B) 14} Moreover, I will make you a desolation and an object of mocking among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.^{(C) 15} You shall be^[a] a mockery and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations around you when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury and with furious punishments—I, the Lord, have spoken^(D)— ¹⁶ when I loose against you^[b] my deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will let loose to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread.^{[c](E) 17} I will send famine and wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children; pestilence and bloodshed shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”^(F)

⁶ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.^(A)

¹¹ He shall come and ravage the land of Egypt, giving