'Food' in the Bible

All her people groan, seeking bread;They have exchanged their desirable and precious things for foodTo restore their lives.“See, O Lord, and considerHow despised and repulsive I have become!”

“I [Jerusalem] called to my lovers (political allies), but they deceived me.My priests and my elders perished in the cityWhile they looked for food to restore their strength.

They cry to their mothers,“Where is grain and wine?”As they faint like a wounded manIn the streets of the city,As their life [slips away and] is poured outIn their mothers’ arms.

The tongue of the infant clingsTo the roof of its mouth because of thirst;The little ones ask for food,But no one gives it to them.

The hands of compassionate womenBoiled their own children;They became food for themBecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people [Judah].

We have given the hand [as a pledge of fidelity and submission] to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.