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53 Then you will eat the offspring of your own body [to avoid starvation], the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you.(A) 54 The man who is most refined and well-bred among you [a]will be cruel and hostile toward his brother and toward [b]the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, 55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children [c]which he will eat, [d]because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit his eye will be evil toward.
  2. Deuteronomy 28:54 Lit the wife of his bosom.
  3. Deuteronomy 28:55 The horror of the situation is understated: this self-absorbed father begins killing some of his children to feed himself. The rest of the family, also starving under the brutal conditions, probably want some of the macabre meal but the father keeps it all for himself.
  4. Deuteronomy 28:55 The implication is that under ordinary conditions, such a person would undoubtedly gag at eating perfectly good food that might be slightly stale or otherwise unappealing to him.

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