Deuteronomy 28:56

56 The most tender and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and tender that she wouldn't even step on an ant--will become stingy toward the husband she loves or toward her own son or daughter.

Deuteronomy 28:56 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:56

And the tender and delicate woman amongst you
Who is instanced in because of her sex, which is more pitiful and compassionate, and especially one that has been brought up genteelly, and has always lived deliciously, on the most delicate fare, and nicest dainties, and used to all the delights of nature:

which would not venture to set her foot upon the ground for
delicateness and tenderness;
for fear of taking cold, or defiling her feet:

her eye shall be evil towards the husband of her bosom, and towards
her son, and towards her daughter;
begrudge them every bit they eat, and restrain food from them as much as in her lies, and even snatch it out of their mouths; so Josephus ^F5 relates, that

``women snatched the food out of the mouths of their husbands, and sons out of the mouths of their fathers; and, what is most miserable, mothers out of the mouths of their infants.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. l0. sect. 3.

Deuteronomy 28:56 In-Context

54 Even the most tender and sensitive man among you will become stingy toward his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has left.

55 He will give none of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all that he has left, because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of all your cities.

56 The most tender and sensitive woman among you--so sensitive and tender that she wouldn't even step on an ant--will become stingy toward the husband she loves or toward her own son or daughter.

57 She won't share with them the afterbirth from her body and the children she gives birth to. She will secretly eat them out of dire necessity, because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of your cities.

58 You might not faithfully obey every word of the teachings that are written in this book. You might not fear this glorious and awe-inspiring name: the LORD your God.