enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

complete verse (Deuteronomy 28:55)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 28:55:

  • Kupsabiny: “That man shall refuse to distribute to his people the meat of his children that he is eating because the people suffer the consequences and do not have anything to eat in those days when enemies have surrounded their cities.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Even to the point that he would not share with anyone the flesh of the bodies of his children. When the enemy besieges your cities and causes such suffering, he will have nothing else left.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will- not -give them the flesh of his child that he is-eating for he is afraid that (he)-will-run-out-of-food/be-left-empty. That is what will-happen to you (plur.) at the time that your (plur.) enemies will-besiege all your (plur.) towns.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When your enemies have surrounded your towns, even the most gentle and sensitive men among you will want food very desperately, with the result that they will kill their own children and eat their flesh, because they will not have anything else to eat. They will not even share any of it with their brothers or wives whom they love very much or with any of their children who are still alive.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 .