Deuteronomy 28:45-55

45 "And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you {until you are destroyed}, because {you did not listen} to the voice of Yahweh your God, {by observing} his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

46 And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring {forever}.

47 "{Because} [of the fact] that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything,

48 then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you [under conditions of] famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in [a] lack of everything; and he shall place a yoke of iron on your neck {until he has destroyed you}.

49 Yahweh will raise [up] against you a nation from far [off], from the end of the earth, [attacking] as the eagle swoops [down], {a nation whose language you will not understand},

50 {a grim-faced nation} {who does not show respect} to [the] old and [the] young [and] does not show pity.

51 And it shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground {until you are destroyed}, [and] who will not leave for you [any] grain, wine, and olive oil, {calves of your herds}, and {lambs of} your flock {until it has destroyed you}.

52 And it shall besiege you in all your towns {until your high and fortified walls fall}, which you [are] trusting in {throughout your land}; and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

53 And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, {during the siege and during the distress} your enemy inflicts upon you.

54 The most refined and the very sensitive man among you {shall be mean with his brother} and {against his beloved wife} and against the rest of his children that he has left over,

55 {by refraining from giving} to [even] one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because [there is] not anything [that is] left over for him {during the siege and distress} that your enemy inflicts upon you.

Deuteronomy 28:45-55 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "until you to be destroyed"
• [b]. Literally "not you listened"
• [c]. Literally "to observe"
• [d]. Literally "until eternity," but not in a timeless, philosophic sense
• [e]. Literally "Under"
• [f]. Literally "give"
• [g]. Literally "until his destroying of you"
• [h]. Literally "a nation who not you will understand its language"
• [i]. Literally "a nation fierce/determined of face"
• [j]. Literally "who not lifts up face[s]"
• [k]. That is, the invading nation
• [l]. Literally "until your destroying"
• [m]. Literally "what is dropped of your herds"
• [n]. Literally "the offspring of small animals"
• [o]. Literally "until his to destroy you"
• [p]. Literally "until the coming down of your walls, high and fortified"
• [q]. Hebrew "in them," which is redundant
• [r]. Literally "in all of your land"
• [s]. Literally "in siege and in distress"
• [t]. Or "kindly disposed"
• [u]. Literally "shall be bad/evil his eye against his brother"
• [v]. Literally "against the wife of his lap"
• [w]. Or "remainder"
• [x]. Literally "from giving"
• [y]. Literally "in the siege and distress"