Deuteronomy 28:54

Green's Literal Translation

The man who is tender and very delicate among you, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons which he leaves,

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,

Update Bible Version
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his sons whom he has remaining;

English Revised Version
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he hath remaining:

New Century Version
Even the most gentle and kind man among you will become cruel to his brother, his wife whom he loves, and his children who are still alive.

New English Translation
The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children.

Webster's Bible Translation
[So that] the man [that is] tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children whom he shall leave:

World English Bible
The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining;

Amplified Bible
"The man who is most refined and well-bred among you will be cruel and hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A man delicat of lijf, and `ful letcherouse, schal haue enuye to his brother, and wijf that liggith in his bosum,

Young's Literal Translation
`The man who is tender in thee, and who [is] very delicate -- his eye is evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons whom he leaveth,

Berean Standard Bible
The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,

Contemporary English Version
Because of hunger, a man who had been gentle and kind will eat his own children and refuse to share the meal with his brother or wife or with his other children.

American Standard Version
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining;

Bible in Basic English
That man among you who is soft and used to comfort will be hard and cruel to his brother, and to his dear wife, and to of those his children who are still living;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So that it shall greeue the man (that is tender and exceeding delicate among you) to loke on his brother, and vpon his wyfe that lieth in his bosome, and on the remnaunt of his chyldren which he hath yet left,

Complete Jewish Bible
Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will be without pity for his brother, his beloved wife or his surviving children,

Darby Translation
The eye of the man in thy midst that is tender and very luxurious shall be evil towards his brother, and the wife of his bosom, and the residue of his children which he hath left;

Easy-to-Read Version
"Even the most kind and gentle man among you will become cruel. He will be cruel to his family, and he will be cruel to his wife he loves so much. And he will be cruel to his children who are still alive.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining;

King James Version (1611)
So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shalbe euill toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosome, and towards the remnant of his children which he shall leaue:

New Life Bible
The most gentle man among you will be against his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has.

New Revised Standard
Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The man that is tender among you, and exceedingly delicate, his eye will be jealous of his brother and of the wife of his bosom, and of the remnant of his sons, whom be might leave behind;

Geneva Bible (1587)
So that the man (that is tender and exceeding deintie among you) shalbe grieued at his brother, and at his wife, that lieth in his bosome, and at the remnant of his children, which hee hath yet left,

George Lamsa Translation
So that the man who abounds in delights among you and lives a luxurious life, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward his lawful wife and toward the remnant of his children that are left;

Good News Translation
Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom,

Revised Standard Version
The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you will grudge food to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to the last of the children who remain to him;

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He that is tender and very delicate within thee shall look with an evil eye upon his brother, and the wife in his bosom, and the children that are left, which may have been left to him;

Christian Standard Bible®
The most sensitive and refined man among you will look grudgingly at his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children,

Hebrew Names Version
The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he has remaining;

King James Version
So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:

Lexham English Bible
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,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so that it shal greue the man yt afore hath lyued tenderly and in voluptuousnes amonge you, to loke vpon his brother and vpon his wife yt lyeth in his bosome, and on the sonne that is left ouer of his sonnes,

New American Standard Bible
"The man who is refined and very delicate among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left,

New King James Version
The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind,

New Living Translation
The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

Legacy Standard Bible
The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

Contextual Overview

⁴⁵ And all these curses shall come on you and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed; for you did not heed the voice of Jehovah your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever, ⁴⁷ because you did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸ and you shall serve your enemies whom Jehovah shall send on you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things . And He shall put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ Jehovah shall raise a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation fierce of face, who will not regard the person of the aged, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ And he shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave to you grain, new wine, and oil, offspring of your oxen, or young ones of your flock, until he has destroyed you. ⁵² And he shall distress you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls in which you are trusting come down, in all your land; yea, he shall distress you in all your gates, in all your land which Jehovah your God has given toyou. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom Jehovah your God has given to you, in the siege, and in the anguish with which your enemies shall distress you. ⁵⁴ The man who is tender and very delicate among you, his eye shall be evil against his brother, and against the wife of his bosom, and against the remnant of his sons which he leaves,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his eye: Deuteronomy 15:9, Proverbs 23:6, Proverbs 28:22, Matthew 20:15

and toward: The Roman armies at length besieged, sacked, and utterly desolated Jerusalem, and during this seige, the famine was so extreme, that even rich and delicate persons, both men and women, ate their own children, and concealed the horrible repast, lest others should tear it from them! "Women snatched the food out of the very mouths of their husbands, and sons of their fathers, and - what is most miserable mothers of their infants." "In every house, if there appeared any semblance of food, a battle ensued, and the dearest friends and relations fought with one another; snatching away the miserable provisions of life." "A woman distinguished by birth and wealth, after she had been plundered by the tyrants - or soldiers of all her possessions, boiling her own sucking child, ate half of him, and concealing the other half, reserved it for another time!" Deuteronomy 13:6, 2 Samuel 12:3, Micah 7:5

his children: Psalms 103:13, Isaiah 49:15, Matthew 7:9-11, Luke 11:11-13

Reciprocal: Genesis 31:2 - countenance Deuteronomy 28:56 - her eye shall be evil Jeremiah 47:3 - the fathers Lamentations 4:5 - that did Mark 7:22 - an evil 1 Timothy 5:6 - in pleasure

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[So that] the man [that is] tender among you, and very delicate,.... Not only the rustic that has been brought up meanly, and used to hard living; but one that has been bred very tenderly, and lived in a delicate manner, like the rich man in Luke 16:19; that fared sumptuously every day:

his eye shall be evil towards his brother, and towards the wife of his bosom, and towards the remnant of his children which he shall leave; that is, he shall begrudge his brother, who is so nearly related to him, the least bit of food; yea, his wife, he dearly loved, and is one flesh with him, his other self, and even his children, which are parts of himself, such of them as were left not eaten by him; or his eye should be evil upon then, he should look with an evil eye on them, determining within himself to kill and eat them next. Though the particular instance in which his eye would be evil to them follows, yet no doubt there are other instances in which his eye would be evil towards them, as there were at the siege of Jerusalem, and have been since. Josephus b says,

"that in every house where there was any appearance of food (or anything that looked like it, that had the shadow of it) there was a battle; and the dearest friends fought with one another, snatching away from each other, the miserable supports of life;''

as the husband from his wife and children, and the wife from her husband and children; see more in Deuteronomy 28:56; and, in later times, we told by the Jewish historian c, that wrote an account of their sufferings and distresses since their dispersion, that at Fez the Jews sold their children for slaves for bread.

b De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 3. c Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud. p. 326.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 28:20-68.

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 original is used Deuteronomy 7:23; 1 Samuel 14:20 for the panic and disorder with which the curse of God smites His foes.

Deuteronomy 28:22

“Blasting” denotes (compare Genesis 41:23) the result of the scorching east wind; “mildew” that of an untimely blight falling on the green ear, withering it and marring its produce.

Deuteronomy 28:24

When the heat is very great the atmosphere in Palestine is often filled with dust and sand; the wind is a burning sirocco, and the air comparable to the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace.

Deuteronomy 28:25

Shalt be removed - See the margin. The threat differs from that in Leviticus 26:33, which refers to a dispersion of the people among the pagan. Here it is meant that they should be tossed to and fro at the will of others, driven from one country to another without any certain settlement.

Deuteronomy 28:27-37

Second series of judgments on the body, mind, and outward circumstances of the sinners.

Deuteronomy 28:27

The “botch” (rather “boil;” see Exodus 9:9), the “emerods” or tumors 1Sa 5:6, 1 Samuel 5:9, the “scab” and “itch” represent the various forms of the loathsome skin diseases which are common in Syria and Egypt.

Deuteronomy 28:28

Mental maladies shah be added to those sore bodily plagues, and should Deuteronomy 28:29-34 reduce the sufferers to powerlessness before their enemies and oppressors.

Blindness - Most probably mental blindness; compare Lamentations 4:14; Zep 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:14 ff.

Deuteronomy 28:30-33

See the marginal references for the fulfillment of these judgments.

Deuteronomy 28:38-48

Third series of judgments, affecting every kind of labor and enterprise until it had accomplished the total ruin of the nation, and its subjection to its enemies.

Deuteronomy 28:39

Worms - i. e. the vine-weevil. Naturalists prescribed elaborate precautions against its ravages.

Deuteronomy 28:40

Cast ... - Some prefer “shall be spoiled” or “plundered.”

Deuteronomy 28:43, Deuteronomy 28:44

Contrast Deuteronomy 28:12 and Deuteronomy 28:13.

Deuteronomy 28:46

Forever - Yet “the remnant” Romans 9:27; Romans 11:5 would by faith and obedience become a holy seed.

Deuteronomy 28:49-58

Fourth series of judgments, descriptive of the calamities and horrors which should ensue when Israel should be subjugated by its foreign foes.

Deuteronomy 28:49

The description (compare the marginal references) applies undoubtedly to the Chaldeans, and in a degree to other nations also whom God raised up as ministers of vengeance upon apostate Israel (e. g. the Medes). But it only needs to read this part of the denunciation, and to compare it with the narrative of Josephus, to see that its full and exact accomplishment took place in the wars of Vespasian and Titus against the Jews, as indeed the Jews themselves generally admit.

The eagle - The Roman ensign; compare Matthew 24:28; and consult throughout this passage the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:54

Evil - i. e. grudging; compare Deuteronomy 15:9.

Deuteronomy 28:57

Young one - The “afterbirth” (see the margin). The Hebrew text in fact suggests an extremity of horror which the King James Version fails to exhibit. Compare 2 Kings 6:29.

Deuteronomy 28:58-68

Fifth series of judgments. The uprooting of Israel from the promised land, and its dispersion among other nations. Examine the marginal references.

Deuteronomy 28:58

In this book - i. e. in the book of the Law, or the Pentateuch in so far as it contains commands of God to Israel. Deuteronomy is included, but not exclusively intended. So Deuteronomy 28:61; compare Deuteronomy 27:3 and note, Deuteronomy 31:9.

Deuteronomy 28:66

Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee - i. e. shall be hanging as it were on a thread, and that before thine own eyes. The fathers regard this passage as suggesting in a secondary or mystical sense Christ hanging on the cross, as the life of the Jews who would not believe in Him.

Deuteronomy 28:68

This is the climax. As the Exodus from Egypt was as it were the birth of the nation into its covenant relationship with God, so the return to the house of bondage is in like manner the death of it. The mode of conveyance, “in ships,” is added to heighten the contrast. They crossed the sea from Egypt with a high hand. the waves being parted before them. They should go back again cooped up in slaveships.

There ye shall be sold - Rather, “there shall ye offer yourselves, or be offered for sale.” This denunciation was literally fulfilled on more than one occasion: most signally when many thousand Jews were sold into slavery and sent into Egypt by Titus; but also under Hadrian, when numbers were sold at Rachel’s grave Genesis 35:19.

No man shall buy you - i. e. no one shall venture even to employ you as slaves, regarding you as accursed of God, and to be shunned in everything.