52
It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you.
53
In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you.
54
Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children,
55
giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns.
56
She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter,
57
begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.
58
If you do not diligently observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,
59
then the Lord will overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions and grievous and lasting maladies.
60
He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were in dread, and they shall cling to you.
61
Every other malady and affliction, even though not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will inflict on you until you are destroyed.
62
Although once you were as numerous as the stars in heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God.