With this verse compare Deut 28.53. Lam 4.10 indicates that the people actually did these horrible things.

Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reverse the order of clauses in the verse, mentioning first the siege of the city, then last, for effect, the eating of the children.

In the siege and in the distress: In Hebrew siege and distress sound alike, and distress may be taken as modifying siege; hence Good News Translation has “The siege will be so terrible” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This could also be expressed “when their enemies besiege [or, surround] them and cause them to suffer.”

Their enemies and those who seek their life are the same people. Good News Translation turns the second of these into a verb, with the first being the subject: “The enemy will … try to kill its people.” In the text it is clear that it is the LORD who sends the enemies, thereby causing the people to become cannibals. Consequently, some translators will render the verse as follows:

• I will cause their enemies, those people who want to kill them, to surround their city and cause them great suffering. It will be so bad for them that they will even eat their children and their neighbors.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .