Parallel
Lamentations 4:9
King James Version (1769 Blayney revision, with Apocrypha) · Berean Standard Bible
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away (note: Heb. flow out), stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.