And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Parallel translations
- WEB You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
- BSB You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
- NKJV You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.
- NASB Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.
- NLT Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God warns that siege would grow so desperate that parents eat their own children. Extreme judgment brings unimaginable horror.
Overview
This horrifying image describes the depths of famine under siege, later historically fulfilled (2 Kings 6, Lamentations 4). It is not God's command but the dreadful self-destruction that rebellion unleashes. Such warnings show the catastrophic end of sin and the desperate need for the deliverance God alone provides.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 24:19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
- Ezek 5:10Therefore 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, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
- Lam 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- 2 Kgs 6:28–29And 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 will eat my son to morrow.
- Luke 23:29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
- Lam 2:20Behold, 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 the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Deut 28:53–57And 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:
- Jer 19:9And 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 in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 26:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.