Deuteronomy 28:49-68

49 "¹The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, ²as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,

50 a nation of fierce countenance who will ³have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.

51 "Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

52 "⁴It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you.

53 "⁵Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you.

54 "The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing * else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.

56 "⁶The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

57 and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for ⁷she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

58 "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to ⁸fear this honored and awesome ⁹name, the LORD your God,

59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

60 "¹⁰He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

61 "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you ¹¹until you are destroyed.

62 "Then you shall be left few in number, ¹²whereas * you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey * the LORD your God.

63 "It shall come about that as the LORD ¹³delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will ¹⁴delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be ¹⁵torn from the land where * you are entering to possess it.

64 "Moreover, the LORD will ¹⁶scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall ¹⁷serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.

65 "¹⁸Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there ¹⁹the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.

66 "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.

67 "²⁰In the morning you shall say, 'Would * that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would * that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.

68 "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves *, but there will be no buyer."

Deuteronomy 28:49-68 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 28

In this chapter Moses enlarges on the blessings and the curses which belong, the one to the doers, the other to the transgressors of the law; the blessings, De 28:1-14; the curses, some of which concern individual persons, others the whole nation and body of people, and that both under the former and present dispensations, and which had their fulfilment in their former captivities, and more especially in their present dispersion, De 28:15-68.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 5:26-30; Isaiah 7:18-20; Jeremiah 5:15; Jeremiah 6:22, 23
• 2. Jeremiah 48:40; Jeremiah 49:22; Lamentations 4:19; Hosea 8:1
• 3. Isaiah 47:6
• 4. Jeremiah 10:17, 18; Zephaniah 1:15, 16
• 5. Leviticus 26:29; 2 Kings 6:28, 29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:10
• 6. Lamentations 4:10
• 7. 2 Kings 6:28, 29; Lamentations 4:10
• 8. Psalms 99:3; Malachi 1:14
• 9. Isaiah 42:8
• 10. Deuteronomy 28:27
• 11. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26
• 12. Deuteronomy 1:10; Nehemiah 9:23
• 13. Jeremiah 32:41
• 14. Proverbs 1:26
• 15. Jeremiah 12:14; Jeremiah 45:4
• 16. Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; Nehemiah 1:8
• 17. Deuteronomy 4:28; Deuteronomy 29:26; Deuteronomy 32:17
• 18. Lamentations 1:3
• 19. Leviticus 26:36
• 20. Job 7:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "fruit"
• [b]. Lit "gates"
• [c]. Lit "gates"
• [d]. Lit "fruit"
• [e]. Or "distress"
• [f]. Lit "tender"
• [g]. Lit "his eye shall be evil toward"
• [h]. Lit "of his bosom"
• [i]. Or "distress"
• [j]. Lit "gates"
• [k]. Lit "tender"
• [l]. Lit "tenderness"
• [m]. Lit "her eye shall be evil toward"
• [n]. Lit "of her bosom"
• [o]. Lit "feet"
• [p]. Or "distress"
• [q]. Lit "gates"
• [r]. Or "reverence"
• [s]. Heb "YHWH"
• [t]. Lit "plague on your seed"
• [u]. Lit "great"
• [v]. Lit "listen to the voice of"
• [w]. Lit "be hung for you in front"