Deuteronomy 28:53-57

53 And 1you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, 2in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
54 The man who is the most tender and refined among you will 3begrudge food to his brother, to 4the wife he embraces,[a] and to the last of the children whom he has left,
55 so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, 5in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.
56 6The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces,[b] to her son and to her daughter,
57 her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, 7in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

Deuteronomy 28:53-57 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 7

  • 1. ver. 57; Leviticus 26:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Ezekiel 5:10; [2 Kings 6:28, 29; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:10]
  • 2. ver. 55, 57
  • 3. See Deuteronomy 15:9
  • 4. Deuteronomy 13:6
  • 5. ver. 53
  • 6. ver. 54; Isaiah 47:1
  • 7. [See ver. 55 above]

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew the wife of his bosom
  • [b]. Hebrew the husband of her bosom
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.