Deuteronomy 28:55

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, detailing the covenant curses that will follow disobedience. The passage describes a future siege within their gates where extreme distress will fracture familial bonds.

The words — מִ/בְּשַׂ֤ר (mi./be.Sar) means "any of [the] flesh of," paired with יֹאכֵ֔ל (yo.Khel), meaning "he will eat." These terms anchor the verse’s depiction of desperate consumption during total deprivation.

The thread — The siege and famine motif appears in Jeremiah 52:6, which records a city-wide famine so severe that the land had no food. Jeremiah 34:2 similarly notes God’s message to Zedekiah regarding the city’s impending capture by the Babylonian king.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant abandonment removes divine protection and reduces human relationships to survival mechanics. It asks the reader to take the warning seriously before the described breakdown occurs.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

מִתֵּ֣ת׀mi./Tetfrom/ giving לְאַחַ֣דle./'a.Chadto/ oneמֵהֶ֗םme./Hemfrom <the>/ themמִבְּשַׂ֤רmi./be.Sarany of/ [the] flesh of בָּנָיו֙ba.Na/vchildren/ his אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhom יֹאכֵ֔לyo.Khelhe will eat מִבְּלִ֥יmi./be.Libecause/ not הִשְׁאִֽיר־hish.'ir-he has leftל֖וֹl/oto <the>/ himכֹּ֑לKolanything בְּמָצוֹר֙be./ma.tzOrin/ [the] siege וּבְמָצ֔וֹקu./ve./ma.Tzokand/ in/ [the] distress אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.Sherwhich יָצִ֥יקya.Tzikhe will bring distressלְךָ֛le./Khato <the>/ youאֹיִבְךָ֖'o.yiv./Khaenemy/ your בְּכָל־be./kholin/ all שְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃she.'a.Rei./khagates/ your

King James Version

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 in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 5:10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
Jeremiah 34:2 The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
Jeremiah 52:6 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.