And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
Toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet - i:e., a foetus, as distinguished from her children which she shall bear." [The Septuagint has: to chorion autees to exelthon dia toon meeroon autees.] Such were the dreadful extremities to which the inhabitants during the siege were reduced that, according to the testimony of Josephus, many women sustained a wretched existence by eating the flesh of their own children. Parental affection was extinguished, and the nearest relatives were jealously avoided lest they should discover and demand a share of the revolting viands.