Deuteronomy 28:53

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:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
eat	וְאָכַלְתָּ֣ ve.'a.khal.Ta	H398	to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
fruit	פְרִֽי fe.ri-	H6529	fruit (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular construct
body	בִטְנְךָ֗ vit.ne.Kha	H990	the belly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
flesh	בְּשַׂ֤ר be.Sar	H1320	flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular construct
sons	בָּנֶ֙יךָ֙ ba.Nei.kha	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
daughters	וּבְנֹתֶ֔יךָ u.ve.no.Tei.kha	H1323	a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָ֣ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God	אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ 'e.lo.Hei.kha	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
given	נָֽתַן na.tan-	H5414	to give · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
siege	בְּמָצוֹר֙ be.ma.tzOr	H4692	something hemming in · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
straitness	וּבְמָצ֔וֹק u.ve.ma.Tzok	H4689	a narrow place · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
enemies	אֹיְבֶֽךָ 'o.ye.Ve.kha	H341	hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
distress	יָצִ֥יק ya.Tzik	H6693	to compress · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Lamentations 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Leviticus 26:29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Jeremiah 19:9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend…
Deuteronomy 28:57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for wan…
2 Kings 6:28-29 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we wi…
Lamentations 2:20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and…
Ezekiel 5:10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, a…
Deuteronomy 28:55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and i…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 28:45–end

One would have thought that enough had been said to possess them with a dread of that wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. But to show how deep the treasures of that wrath are, and that still there is more and worse behind, Moses, when one would have thought that he had concluded this dismal subject, begins again, and adds to this roll of curses many similar words: as Jeremiah did to his, Jer 36:32. It should seem that in the former part of this commination Moses foretells their captivity in Babylon, and the calamities which introduced and attended that, by which, even after their return, they were brought to that low and poor conditi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 28:53

And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body--(See Kg2 6:29; Lam 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.

John Gill on Deuteronomy 28:53

And thou shall eat the fruit of thine body,.... Than which nothing can be more shocking and unnatural, which is explained as follows: the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee; which is an aggravation of the cruel and inhuman fact: in the siege, and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee; this shows the cause of it, a famine by reason of the closeness of the siege, so that no provisions could be brought in for their relief; and all within being eaten up, and everything that was eatable, even the most nauseous and disagreeable, they would be led on to this strange, unheard of, and barbarous action, eating their own children. Th…

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John Calvin on Deuteronomy 28:15–end

Dictionary and topics

Heathen — (Heb. plural goyum). At first the word goyim denoted generally all the nations of the world (Gen. 18:18; comp. Gal. 3:8). The Jews afterwards became a people distinguished in a marked manner from the…
Jerusalem — Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the “city of God,” the “holy city;” by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning “the holy;” once “the city of Judah” (2 Chr. 25:28). This name is in the original in the…
Backsliders · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Cannibalism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Famine · General references — General references
Judgments · General references — General references
Obedience · ENJOINED — ENJOINED
Obedience To God · Punishment of refusing — Punishment of refusing
Reprobacy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 28:53

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 28:45–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 28:53

John Gill on Deuteronomy 28:53

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 28:15–end

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 28:53

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 28:45–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 28:53

John Gill on Deuteronomy 28:53

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 28:15–end

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 28:15–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 28:50

Rashi on Deuteronomy 28:53