Deuteronomy 28:26
וְהָיְתָה נִבְלָֽתְךָ לְמַאֲכָל לְכָל־עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְבֶהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ וְאֵין מַחֲרִֽיד׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהָיְתָ֤ה נִבְלָֽתְךָ֙ לְמַאֲכָ֔ל לְכָל־ע֥וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וּלְבֶהֱמַ֣ת הָאָ֑רֶץ וְאֵ֖ין מַחֲרִֽיד׃
καὶ ἔσονται οἱ νεκροὶ ὑμῶν κατάβρωμα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
sitque cadaver tuum in escam cunctis volatilibus cæli, et bestiis terræ, et non sit qui abigat.
Sus cadáveres serán el alimento de todas las aves del cielo y de los animales de la tierra, y no habrá nadie que los espante.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y será tu cuerpo muerto por comida á toda ave del cielo y bestia de la tierra, y no habrá quien las espante.
Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 28:26 describes a curse in which the corpse of the addressee becomes food for birds and land animals, with no one present to drive them away. The verse continues a sequential list of covenant curses using the narrative perfect form.
Key words
- niv.la.tekha ("your corpse", H5038) — feminine singular noun in construct form with a 2nd person masculine singular suffix ("corpse of you"), naming the subject that becomes food.
- ma.'a.khal ("food", H3978) — masculine singular noun following the preposition le (H9005), marking the predicate of transformation ("into food").
- of ha.sha.ma.yim ("bird of the heavens", H5775 + H8064) — construct chain meaning "bird belonging to the heavens," i.e., the category of flying creatures.
- ve.he.mat ha.'a.retz ("animal of the earth", H0929 + H0776) — construct chain paired with the previous phrase, denoting land animals as a category.
- ma.cha.Rid ("one who disturbs", H2729) — hiphil participle (causative, "the one causing fright/scattering"), used after 'ein (H0369, "there is not") to state the absence of anyone performing that action.
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to ha.ye.tah (H1961), a qal sequential perfect that continues the chain of curse-clauses from the surrounding verses — literally "and it will become." The subject of this verb is niv.la.tekha (H5038), "corpse of you," in construct form with a singular masculine suffix, so the sentence grammatically treats the addressee's body as a single entity that "becomes" something. That something is introduced by the preposition le (H9005) plus ma.'a.khal (H3978), "into food" — the construction haya + le is a common Hebrew pattern for expressing transformation ("to become X").
The recipients of this food are given through two parallel construct chains joined by ve (H9002, "and"): le-khol-of ha-shamayim ("for every bird of the heavens") and u-le-vehemat ha-'aretz ("and for the animal of the earth"). Both phrases use the preposition le to mark beneficiaries, and both use construct nouns (of, H5775; vehemat, H0929) governing a following definite noun (ha-shamayim, ha-'aretz), producing a merism covering flying and land creatures.
The final clause, ve-'ein ma.cha.Rid (H0369 + H2729), uses the existential negative particle 'ein in construct with a hiphil participle. The participle form denotes an ongoing agent performing an action — here, someone who causes fright or scatters — and its absence is asserted, meaning no such agent is present.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew niv.la.tekha (H5038) is singular ("your corpse"), matching the singular suffix -kha (H9021). The LXX renders this as plural, οἱ νεκροὶ ὑμῶν ("your dead ones"), and the Spanish SBLIBRE follows this plural sense ("sus cadáveres"). The Vulgate keeps the singular, cadaver tuum. The English BSB also uses the plural "corpses," aligning with the LXX rather than the Hebrew singular construction.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.