God’s Word Translation
Deuteronomy 28:53
53Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.
Deuteronomy 28:53 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
- New International Version (NIV)Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
- New King James Version (NKJV)You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you.
Context of Deuteronomy 28:53
51They’ll eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you’re destroyed. They’ll leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They’ll continue to do this until they’ve completely ruined you. 52They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls in which you trust come down everywhere in your land. They’ll blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. 54Even the most tender and sensitive man among you will become stingy toward his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has left. 55He will give none of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all that he has left, because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of all your cities.
Read all of Deuteronomy 28Deuteronomy 28:53 word by word
וְאָכַלְתָּ֣ פְרִֽי־בִטְנְךָ֗ בְּשַׂ֤ר בָּנֶ֙יךָ֙ וּבְנֹתֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לְךָ֖ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ בְּמָצוֹר֙ וּבְמָצ֔וֹק אֲשֶׁר־יָצִ֥יק לְךָ֖ אֹיְבֶֽךָ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And thou shalt eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
- the fruitפְּרִיperîy · fruitH6529
- of thine own bodyבֶּ֫טֶןbeţen · belly: wombH990
- the fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
- of thy sonsבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- and of thy daughtersבַּתbath · daughterH1323
- which the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- thy Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
- hath givenנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
- thee, in the siegeמָצוֹרmâtsôr mâtsûr · siegeH4692
- and in the straitnessמָצוֹקmâtsôq · distressH4689
- wherewith thine enemiesאֹיֵב'ôyêb 'ôyêb · enemyH341
- shall distressצוּקtsûq · to pressH6693
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 28:53
- Deuteronomy 28:18You will be cursed. You will have few children. Your land will have few crops. Your cattle will be cursed with few calves, and your flocks will have few lambs and kids.
- Leviticus 26:29You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters.
- 2 Kings 6:28Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?” She answered, “This woman told me, ‘Give up your son. Let’s eat him today. We’ll eat my son tomorrow.’
- Jeremiah 19:9I will make the people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters. They will eat each other’s flesh during blockades and hardships that their enemies impose on them when they want to kill them.”
- Lamentations 2:20“O Lord, look and consider: Have you ever treated anyone like this? Should women eat their own children, the children they have nursed? Should priests and prophets be killed in the Lord’s holy place?
- Lamentations 4:10The hands of loving mothers cooked their own children. The children were used for food by my people when they were being destroyed ⌞by a blockade⌟.
- Ezekiel 5:10That is why parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter whoever is left to the wind.
- Matthew 24:19“How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days.
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 28:53
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15-68Verses 15-68 The curses correspond in form and number Deuteronomy 28:15-19 to the blessings Deuteronomy 28:3-6, and the special modes in which these threats should be executed are described in five groups of denunciations Deuteronomy 28:20-26 First series of judgments. The curse of God should rest on all they did, and should issue in manifold forms of disease, in famine, and in defeat in war. Deuteronomy 28:20 Vexation - Rather, confusion: the word in the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 45-68Verses 45-68 If God inflicts vengeance, what miseries his curse can bring upon mankind, even in this present world! Yet these are but the beginning of sorrows to those under the curse of God. What then will be the misery of that world where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched! Observe what is here said of the wrath of God, which should come and remain upon the Israelites for their sins. It is amazing to think that a people so long the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-68This section explains the conditions for receiving the covenant blessing, the types of blessings, and the curses that will occur if people ignore or disobey these rules (28:1–14; 28:15–68).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 53-5753-57. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body--(See 2Ki 6:29; La 4:10). Such were the dreadful extremities to which the inhabitants during the siege were reduced that many women sustained a wretched existence by eating the flesh of their own children. Parental affection was extinguished, and the nearest relatives were jealously, avoided, lest they should discover and demand a share of the revolting viands.Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 28:53
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 28
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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