Deuteronomy 28:32

32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.[a]

Deuteronomy 28:32 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 28:32

Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another
people
This also was not true in the Babylonish captivity; for then their sons and daughters went with them, and continued with them, and returned again; but has been oftentimes verified since their captivity by the Romans; frequently their sons and daughters have been taken from them by force, to be brought up in another religion, by the edicts of kings and popes, and by the canons of councils, and particularly of the fourth council of Toledo:

and thine eyes shall look and fail;
with longing:

for them all the day long;
expecting every day their children would be returned to them, at least wishing and hoping they would; their hearts yearning after them, but all in vain:

and [there shall be] no might in thy hand;
to recover them out of the hands of those who had the possession of them, or fetch them back from distant countries, whither they were carried. By an edict of the Portuguese, the children of the Jews were ordered to be carried to the uninhabited islands; and when, by the king's command, they were had to the ships in which they were to be transported, it is incredible, the Jewish historian says F12, what howlings and lamentations were made by the women; and there wore none pitied them and comforted them, or could help them.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud. sect. 59. p. 332.

Deuteronomy 28:32 In-Context

30 You will become engaged to a woman, but another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.
31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away from you and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will help you.
32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes grow weary looking for them every day. But you will be powerless to do anything.
33 A people you don't know will eat your soil's produce and everything you have labored for. You will only be oppressed and crushed continually.
34 You will be driven mad by what you see.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit day, and not for power your hand
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