⁴ So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth^(A) day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem^(B) with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works^(C) all around it.^{(D) 5} The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.^(E)