And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters, and each person will eat the flesh of their neighbors. This will happen during the siege when their enemies surround the city and cut off all their food supplies, creating terrible desperation.
God is warning that the siege of Jerusalem will become so severe and desperate that people will resort to cannibalism to survive.
📚 Historical Context
Jeremiah prophesied during the final years before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Ancient sieges involved completely surrounding a city to cut off food and water until the people surrendered or starved. Archaeological evidence and historical records confirm that such extreme famine conditions during sieges sometimes led to cannibalism, as later occurred during Jerusalem's siege by the Romans in 70 AD.
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