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King James Version
Jeremiah 12:9
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Is my inheritance like a hyena to me?Are birds of prey circling her?Go, gather all the wild animals;bring them to devour her.
Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go you, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.
Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
"Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me? Are the birds of prey against her on every side? Go, gather all the animals of the field, Bring them to devour!
My people have become to me like a speckled bird attacked on all sides by hawks. Go, gather the wild animals. Bring them to get something to eat.
"Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me [unlike the others]? Are the birds of prey (enemies) surrounding her on every side? Go, gather all the [wild] beasts of the field; Bring them to devour [her]!
Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go you, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.
Shall mine heritage bee vnto mee, as a bird of diuers colours? are not the birdes about her, saying, Come, assemble all ye beastes of the fielde, come to eate her?
Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?Are the birds of prey against her on every side?Go, gather all the beasts of the field,Bring them to devour!
Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey, with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her.
My people are like a hawk surrounded and attacked by other hawks. Tell the wild animals to come and eat their fill.
For me, my heritage is like a speckled bird of prey — other birds of prey surround her and attack her. Go, gather all the wild animals, and bring them to devour her.
My heritage is unto me [as] a speckled bird of prey; the birds of prey round about are against her. Go, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
My own people have become like a dying animal surrounded by vultures. These birds are circling around her. Come on, wild animals. Come get something to eat.
My heritage has become to me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; go, assemble all the wild beasts of the field, bring them to devour her.
My chosen people are like a bird attacked from all sides by hawks. Call the wild animals to come and join in the feast!
The lair of the hyena is my inheritance to me, the birds of prey are all around her. Go, gather all of the animals of the field, bring them to come and devour.
My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Come, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
Myne heretage is vnto me, as a spreckled byrde, a byrde of dyuerse coloures is vpon it. Go hence, and gather all the beastes of the felde together, that they maye eate it vp.
Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
My heritage is like a brightly coloured bird to me; the cruel birds are attacking her on every side: go, get together all the beasts of the field, make them come for destruction.
Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
Mine heritage is vnto mee as a speckled bird, the birdes round about are against her; come yee, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to deuoure.
Is not mine heritage vnto me as a speckled birde? are not the birdes round about agaynst her? Come and gather ye together all the beastes of the fielde, come, that ye may eate it vp.
Is not my inheritance to me a hyaena’s cave, or a cave round about her? Go ye, gather together all the wild beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.
Is mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
Whether myn eritage is a brid of dyuerse colours to me? whether it is a brid died thorou out? Alle beestis of the feeld, come ye, be ye gaderid togidere; haste ye for to deuoure.
Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
My heritage [is] to me [as] a speckled bird, the birds around [are] against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas. But other birds of prey are all around them. Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts. Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.
My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; The vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, Bring them to devour!
My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
Is My chosen nation like a spot-covered, flesh-eating bird to Me? Are the flesh-eating birds against her on every side? Go, gather all the wild animals of the field, and bring them to eat.
Is the hyena greedy for my heritage at my command? Are the birds of prey all around her? Go, assemble all the wild animals; bring them to devour her.
Is it, a variegated bird of prey, that mine inheritance is to me? The birds of prey, are round about against her! Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field bring them to devour.
Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? is it as a bird dyed throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all ye beasts of the earth, make haste to devour.
Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
A speckled fowl [is] Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food.
"Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me? Are the birds of prey against her on every side? Go, gather all the beasts of the field, Bring them to devour!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Mine: Or rather, as the learned Bochart renders, "Is then my heritage - people to me as a fierce hyena? Is there a wild beast all around upon her?" i.e., the land of Canaan. The hyena is a kind of wolf, a little bigger than a mastiff; colour grey, streaked with black: it is of a solitary and savage disposition.
speckled bird: or, a bird having talons
the birds: Jeremiah 2:15, 2 Kings 24:2, Ezekiel 16:36, Ezekiel 16:37, Ezekiel 23:22-25, Revelation 17:16
come ye: Jeremiah 7:33, Isaiah 56:9, Ezekiel 39:17-20, Revelation 19:17, Revelation 19:18
come: or, cause them to come
Reciprocal: Ezekiel 34:5 - and they became Hosea 13:8 - wild beast
Cross-References
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.
When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,.... Or, "is not mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird?" b as a bird of various colours, delightful to look at, as the peacock, so Jerom interprets it here; it was so formerly, but not so now; or as a bird of various colours, and unusual, which other birds get about, look on, hate, and peck at. Some think this refers to the motley party coloured religion the Jews had embraced, consisting of various rites and ceremonies of the Heathens; on which account they thought they looked beautiful and comely, when they were hated and rejected of God for them; but the word signifies rather to be dipped or stained, as with blood, and so denotes a bird of prey that is stained with the blood of others; a fit emblem of the cruelty of the Jews, in shedding the blood of the prophets. Some, because a word near akin to this signifies a finger, render it a "fingered bird" c; that is, a bird with talons or claws; like fingers, a ravenous bird, and it comes to the same sense as before. But the Septuagint take it, to be not a bird, but a beast, and render it by the hyena; and which Bochart d approves of, since the word in the Arabic language signifies such a creature; and Schindler observes, that צבע, with the Arabians, is the name of a creature between a wolf and a middling dog, which agrees with the hyena. The word here used, in the Talmudic e language signifies a she leopard or panther, so called from its variety of spots; and is the same, as Maimonides says f, which, in the Arabic language, is called אלצבע; with the Targumists it is used for a kind of serpents or vipers. So the valley of Tzeboim is rendered, in the Targum, the valley of vipers, 1 Samuel 13:18. And it is said g,
צבוע, the word in the text,
"this is from a white drop (or seed), and yet it has three hundred and sixty five kinds of colours, according to the number of the days of a solar year.''
The birds round about are against her; or, "are not the birds round about against her?" the birds of prey? they are; meaning the neighbouring nations, that under Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem to take and destroy it.
Come ye, assemble all ye beasts of the field, come to devour; this is an invitation to the enemies of the people of the Jews, comparable for their fierceness and savageness to the beasts of the field, to come and destroy them; and shows that their destruction was by divine permission, and according to the will of God. Compare with this
Revelation 19:18. The Targum interprets it of those that kill with the sword; kings of the earth, and their armies.
b So V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Jarchi, and Kimchi. c העיט צבוע "avis digtata", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Gusetius "ales unguibus praedita", Cocceius. d Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 11. col. 830, 838, 839. e T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 16. 1. f In Misn. Bava Kama, c. 1. sect. 4. g Bereshit Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 6. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Yahweh shows that the downfall of the nation was occasioned by no want of love on His part, but by the nation’s conduct.
Left - More correctly, cast away.
Jeremiah 12:8
Judah has not merely refused obedience, but become intractable and fierce, like an untamed lion. It has roared against God with open blasphemy. As His favor is life, so is His hatred death, i. e., Jerusalem’s punishment shall be as if inflicted by one that hated her.
Jeremiah 12:9
Rather, “Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird? Are the birds upon her round about? Come, assemble all the wild beasts: bring them to devour her.” By “a speckled” or parti-colored “bird” is probably meant some kind of vulture.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Jeremiah 12:9. Is unto me as a speckled bird — A bird of divers colours. This is a people who have corrupted the worship of the true God with heathenish rites and ceremonies; therefore, the different nations, (see Jeremiah 12:10,) whose gods and forms of worship they have adopted, shall come and spoil them. As far as you have followed the surrounding nations in their worship, so far shall they prevail over your state. Every one shall take that which is his own; and wherever he finds his own gods, he will consider the land consecrated to them, and take it as his property, because those very gods are the objects of his worship. The fable of the daw and borrowed plumes is no mean illustration of this passage.
Dahler translates the whole verse thus: -
Birds of prey! inundate with blood my heritage.
Birds of prey! come against her from all sides.
Run together in crowds, ye savage beasts!
Come to the carnage!
