Deuteronomy 28:56

56 The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces ^[a] and her son and 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 The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,

55 refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates.

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

57 the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates.

58 If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God—

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew the husband of her bosom