On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 3. Of the. Prot. supply, “fourth month,” as it is in the parallel passage. Jeremiah 52:6. And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month. In Calmet. 39:2, we read, in the fourth month, the fifth day of the month, the city was broken up, or a breach was made in the outer wall. In the course of a few days, the princes of Babylon seized the middle gate; and the famine became so intolerable, that, on the 9th, it was judged expedient to abandon the city. Bible.—During this siege it is thought, ( Calmet.) that mothers eat their children, (Lamentations 4:10. Baruch 2:3) and children their parents. Ezechiel 5:10. Menochius.