2 Kings 25:3

¹ So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

² And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

⁴ Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

⁵ but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
KJV: And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
WEB: 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.
ASV: On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
DARBY: On the ninth of the [fourth] month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
BLB: And on the ninth [day] of the [fourth] month, the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land.

ÅB: På den niende dag i måneden[^1] var hungersnøden så stor i byen at landets folk ikke hadde noe å spise.
OTB: På den niende dagen i den fjerde måneden var hungersnøden alvorlig i byen, slik at det ikke var mat for folkene i landet.
B1930: På den niende dag i måneden var hungersnøden så stor i byen at landets folk ikke hadde noget å ete. / < den fjerde måned, JER 52, 5. 6.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 38:2
“This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 28:52–53
They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.
Read in context
Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.
Read in context
Lamentations 4:4–10
The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.
Read in context
Leviticus 26:26
When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
Read in context
Ezekiel 14:21
For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?
Read in context
Ezekiel 7:15
The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.
Read in context
Jeremiah 52:6
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
Read in context