Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:52

Verses 52-57 speak of how the enemy will besiege the fortified towns and all other settlements in Israel, and what will happen when the people are under siege.

They shall besiege you: to besiege is to surround a town with enemy troops, thus preventing anyone from leaving or entering, in an attempt to get the people in the town to surrender. For a comment on the translation of besiege, see 20.12.

Your high and fortified walls: high walls surrounded fortified towns, with parapets on top from which the defending forces could shoot arrows at the enemy. Other ways to say this are “high and well-protected walls” or “high and strong walls, inside of which you feel safe.”

In which you trusted: but to no avail; the enemy will break through the walls.

Come down: this is the same verb translated as “fall” in 20.20. Contemporary English Version has “the enemy will tear them down.”

They shall besiege you: repeating the thought of the first part of the verse; this is now expanded to include all your towns throughout all your land.

Which the LORD your God has given you: as often stated in this book.

A possible alternative translation model for this verse is:

• All over the land that the LORD your God gave you, your enemies will surround all your towns. You may feel safe inside your high and strong walls, but your enemies will tear them down.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:53

This is a grim description of siege conditions, with emphasis on cannibalism (see Lev 26.29; 2 Kgs 6.28-29; Jer 19.9; Lam 2.24; 4.10; Ezek 5.10).

You shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters: the emphatic form should be reproduced in translation if possible. But if it sounds unnatural in a translator’s language, we may say, for example, “you will even eat the children” (Good News Translation).

Whom the LORD your God has given you: for this reason they are all the more precious.

In the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you: this describes the general situation, and it is better to place it at the beginning of the verse (see Good News Translation). This full statement is repeated, with slight variations, in verses 55 and 57. More natural ways of stating this should be used: “the desperate straits to which your enemies will reduce you during the siege,” or “while your [plural] enemies are surrounding your towns, you will become so desperate that you will even eat….” “Desperate” may be also expressed as “without hope,” “hopeless,” “feel that there is nothing else to do,” “feel there is no way out,” “feel that there is no other path to follow.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:54 - 28:55

Notice how Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have combined verses 54-55, for a more natural and clearer statement.

The man who is the most tender and delicately bred among you: something like “most refined and sensitive” represents well the meaning of the text. This is expressed as “most gentle and sensitive” (New International Version); “The gentlest and tenderest man among you” (New Jerusalem Bible); “most refined and gentle” (Revised English Bible); “a man who had been gentle and kind” (Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation “most refined man of noble birth” appears to miss the point.

Will grudge food: that is, “will not share any of his food,” which, in this context, consists of the flesh of some of his own children (verse 55). The Hebrew expression translated grudge is “make the eye hostile” (see 15.9); here it means to look at his family with indifference and hostility. So we may translate as “he will viciously [or, nastily] refuse to share his food with…,” or even “he will look at them with a vicious look and refuse to share….”

Brother: in a number of languages translators will need to indicate the relative age of a brother, whether older or younger. In such a case we may say, for example, “to his older or younger brother.”

The wife of his bosom: that is, his dear, or beloved, wife.

To the last of the children who remain to him: or “any of his children who are left,” or even “… who are still alive.”

He will not give any of them: this repeats information from verse 54 and may be omitted in a number of languages.

Because he has nothing left him: Good News Translation says “because he had no other food.” That is the reason why he is eating the flesh of some of his own children.

In the siege and in the distress: as in verse 53.

A possible translation model combining verses 54 and 55 is the following:

• Because the enemies are surrounding his town, a man who had been gentle and kind will become so desperate that he will eat his own children. He will do this because he feels that there is nothing else he can do; he has no food left. He will viciously refuse to share any of the meat with his brother or his beloved wife or any of his children that are left.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:56 - 28:57

Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have combined verses 56 and 57 to make a clearer and less repetitive translation.

The most tender and delicately bred woman: exactly the same language used of the man in verse 54. In some cultures the same terms cannot be applied to both men and women.

Would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground: this seems to mean that she is so delicately bred and has lived in such luxury that she never would walk barefoot on the ground; some, however (see Good News Translation), take it to mean that she is so wealthy that she has never had to walk anywhere, but was transported either in a litter or in a carriage. It seems better to take it in the first sense. In any case this is an obvious exaggeration; it seems very unlikely that an adult woman could live all her life, especially raising children, without once setting her foot on the ground.

Will grudge: as in verse 56. Good News Translation has “will behave in the same way,” meaning she will refuse to share the flesh of the child with others.

The husband of her bosom: like the wife of his bosom in verse 54.

To her son and to her daughter: that is, “to her children.”

Her afterbirth … and her children whom she bears: afterbirth is the soft tissue that surrounds the baby before birth and comes out from the womb after childbirth. It is hardly possible that the writer was thinking of a siege that would last long enough for a woman to give birth several times. It is better to follow Good News Translation, “the child” (see BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum “the son”; similarly New Jerusalem Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). Bible en français courant cites the Septuagint for the singular. Revised English Bible “or any boy or girl that she may bear,” and Contemporary English Version “eat both her new-born baby and the afterbirth” are commendable ways of handling the matter.

For want of all things: because she has no food left and has become desperate with hunger.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:59

Here again adjectives and a series of terms which all mean the same thing are used for emphasis.

Will bring on you: or “will punish you … with” (Contemporary English Version), or even “will cause you to become sick with….”

On you and your offspring: “on you and on your descendants” (Good News Translation).

Extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting: for afflictions New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh have “plagues,” which is better in English.

Sicknesses grievous and lasting: Good News Translation “horrible epidemics” may serve as a good model to follow.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:60

All the diseases of Egypt: this means all the plagues God sent on the Egyptians; see verse 27; 7.15.

They shall cleave to you: a vivid way of saying that the Israelites will not be healed; these illnesses are incurable.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:61

Every sickness also, and every affliction: New Jerusalem Bible has “all the plagues and all the diseases,” Revised English Bible “sickness and plague of every kind.” New Jerusalem Bible “other diseases and plagues” best fits the context.

Not recorded in the book of this law: see the similar statement in verse 58; see also 29.21; 30.10; 31.26.

Until you are destroyed: see verses 10, 14, 51.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 28:62

You were as the stars of heaven for multitude: for parallel statements of growth in size and number, see 1.10; 10.22; 26.5.

You shall be left few in number: or “only a few of you will survive” (Good News Translation), or “… will stay alive.”

You did not obey the voice of the LORD your God: see verse 1.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .