Deuteronomy 28:31

Verse

Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

American Standard Version (1901)

Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to save thee.

Bible in Basic English

Your ox will be put to death before your eyes, but its flesh will not be your food: your ass will be violently taken away before your face, and will not be given back to you: your sheep will be given to your haters, and there will be no saviour for you.

Douay-Rheims 1899

May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.

Free Bible Version

Your ox will be slaughtered right in front of you, but you won't eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and won't be returned to you. Your sheep will be taken by your enemies, and no one will come and save you.

Geneva Bible 1599

Thine oxe shalbe slayne before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eate thereof: thine asse shall be violently taken away before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheepe shalbe giuen vnto thine enemies, and no man shall rescue them for thee.

King James (Authorized) Version

One Unity Resource Bible

Your ox will be slain before your eyes, and you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be violently taken away from before your face, and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

Translation for Translators

Your enemies will butcher your cattle while you watch them, and you will not get any of the meat to eat. They will drag away your donkeys while you watch them do it, and they will not give them back to you. They will take away your sheep; and no one will help you rescue them.

Unlocked Literal Bible

Your ox will be slain before your eyes, but you will not eat its meat; your donkey will be forcibly taken away from before you and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to aid you.

Noah Webster Bible

Thy ox shall be slain before thy eyes, and thou shalt not eat of it: thy ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given to thy enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them .

World English Bible

Young's Literal Translation

thine ox [is] slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou dost not eat of it; thine ass [is] taken violently away from before thee, and it is not given back to thee; thy sheep [are] given to thine enemies, and there is no saviour for thee.

Context

The Curses of Disobedience

³⁰You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.³¹Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

Summary

This verse is part of the blessings and curses pronounced by Moses upon the Israelites based on their obedience or disobedience to God's commands. Here, it describes a consequence of disobedience, where their livestock will be given to their enemies with no one to rescue them. This serves as a warning of the severe outcomes of turning away from God and His ways, highlighting the importance of faithfulness and obedience in maintaining God's protection and provision.

Commentary

John Gill

John Gill Bible Commentary

So that thou shalt be mad, for the sight of thine eyes that thou shall see. On account of the shocking things seen by them, their dreadful calamities, oppressions, and persecutions, such as before related; not only violent diseases on their bodies, which were grievous to behold, as well as their pains were intolerable, and made them mad; but to be deprived of a betrothed wife, a newly built house, and a newly planted vineyard; to have an ox slain, and an ass taken away by their enemies, and their sheep given to them before their eyes; to have their sons and daughters taken from them, and brought up in another religion, and to be stripped of their substance; these have made them stark mad, insomuch that they have sometimes destroyed themselves and their families. In Germany, in their rage and madness, they burnt a city and themselves in it; and, in the same country, being summoned by an edict to change their religion, or to be burnt, they agreed to meet together in a certain house, and destroy one another; and first parents killed their children, and husbands their wives, and then killed themselves; leaving only one person to be their doorkeeper, who finished the tragedy by destroying himself, as their own historian relates (m). Other stories of the like kind are reported of them, and some such facts as done in our own nation (n). (m) Ib. (Shebet Judah, sive Hist. Jud.) sect. 34, 36. p. 214, 215, 216, 217. (n) See Bishop Patrick in loc. and Dr. Newton (Bishop of Bristol) on Prophecies, vol. 1. Dissert. 7. sect. 14. p. 195, 196.