Deuteronomy 28:55

55 refusing to share with any of them his children's flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns.

Deuteronomy 28:55 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:55

So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his
children whom he shall eat
Neither give to a brother, nor to a wife, nor to any of his remaining children, the least bit of the flesh of a child he has killed and dressed for his own food; which adds to the barbarity of his action:

because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness
wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates;
every creature being eaten up, dogs, cats and whatsoever else could be any ways made food of; as the dung of beasts, belts, shoes, the leather on shields as Josephus ^F4 says they did eat; and this being the case, nothing eatable remaining, therefore his heart would be hardened against his nearest relations, and not allow them the least part with him, even of what was so shocking and unnatural.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 3.

Deuteronomy 28:55 In-Context

53 "You will eat your children, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you.

54 The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children,

55 refusing to share with any of them his children's flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns.

56 The most sensitive and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her refinement and sensitivity, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son, and her daughter,

57 the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything [else] during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your gates.