So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon punish the men from Anathoth. Their young men will die in war. Their sons and daughters will die from hunger.
So God brought the king of Babylon to attack them. The king killed the young men even when they were in the Temple. He had no mercy on the young men or women, the old men or those who were sick. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.
So now, let their children starve, and let their enemies kill them with swords. Let their wives lose their children and husbands. Let the men from Judah be put to death and the young men be killed with swords in battle.
Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our strong cities. Death has taken away our children who play in the streets and the young men who meet in the city squares.
“People young and old lie outside on the ground. My young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You killed them on the day of your anger; you killed them without mercy.
“I sent disasters against you, as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with swords, and your horses were taken from you. I made you smell the stink from all the dead bodies, but still you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.