⁸ Their faces are ⌞now⌟ blacker than soot.
No one recognizes them on the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones.
It has become as dry as bark.
⁹ Those who were killed with swords are better off
than those who are dying from starvation.
Those who were stabbed bled to death.
The others are dying because there is nothing in the fields to eat.
¹⁰ The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children.
The children were used for food by my people
when they were being destroyed ⌞by a blockade⌟.