Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied - fulfilling the threat, Leviticus 26:26 "When I have broken the staff of your bread
... and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied."
And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee - thou shalt be cast down, not merely thy borders, but in the midst of thee, thy metropolis and temple being overthrown (Tirinus). Even though there should be no enemy, yet thou shalt be consumed with intestine evils (Calvin). Maurer translates, as from an Arabic, root, 'there shall be emptiness in thy belly.' Similarly Grotius, 'there shall be a sinking of thy belly (once filled with food) through hunger.' This suits the parallelism to the first clause. But the English version maintains the parallelism sufficiently. The casting down in the midst of the land, including the failure of food, through the invasion: thus answering to "Thou shall eat, and not be satisfied." х wªyeshchªkaa (H3445) is from yaashach akin to shaachach, or shaachah (H7812) and shuwach (H7743), to humble or stoop one's self].
Thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver - "thou shalt take hold" (with thine arms), in order to save (Calvin) thy wives, children, and goods. Rather [the apocopated Hiphil taceeg, from naacag (H5253)], 'thou shalt remove them,' in order to save them from the foe. But thou shall fail in the attempt to "deliver" them (Jeremiah 50:37, "A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed") The English version follows the ancient versions in the meaning "take hold" [from naasag (H5381), not found in the Qal, but in the Hiphil, hiciyg, He reached an object, or laid hold of it].
And that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword - if haply thou dost rescue aught, it will be but for a time: I will give it up to the foe's sword.