Jeremiah 12 · Verse 9

Jeremiah 12:9

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
Jeremiah 12:9, King James Version

Jeremiah 12:9 in other translations

BSBIs 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.
WEBIs my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field. Bring them to devour.
ASVIs 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.
YLTA 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.
DARBYMy 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.
BBEMy 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.
WebsterMy 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.

What does Jeremiah 12:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
9. speckled bird--Many translate, "a ravenous beast, the hyena"; the corresponding Arabic word means hyena; so the Septuagint. But the Hebrew always elsewhere means "a bird of prey." The Hebrew for "speckled" is from a root "to color"; answering to the Jewish blending together with paganism the altogether diverse Mosaic ritual. The neighboring nations, birds of prey like herself (for she had sinfully assimilated herself to them), were ready to pounce upon her. assemble ... beasts of ... field--The Chaldeans are told to gather the surrounding heathen peoples as allies against Judah (Is 56:9; Eze 34:5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 Is unto me as a speckled bird - A bird of divers colors. This is a people who have corrupted the worship of the true God with heathenish rites and ceremonies; therefore, the different nations, (see Jer 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!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 12:7-13

God's people had been the dearly-beloved of his soul, precious in his sight, but they acted so, that he gave them up to their enemies. Many professing churches become like speckled birds, presenting a mixture of religion and the world, with its vain fashions, pursuits, and pollutions. God's people are as men wondered at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their own folly made themselves so; and the beasts…

Read the full comment on Jeremiah 12:7-13 →

Jeremiah 12:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הַעַ֨יִטha.'A.yit¿ a bird of preyH5861
צָב֤וּעַtza.Vu.a'speckledH6641
נַחֲלָתִי֙na.cha.la.Ti[is] inheritance myH5159
לִ֔יLito <the> me
הַעַ֖יִטha.'A.yitthat [are] bird[s] of prey?H5861
סָבִ֣יבsa.Vivall aroundH5439
עָלֶ֑יהָ'a.Lei.haon itH5921
לְכ֗וּle.KhugoH1980
אִסְפ֛וּ'is.FugatherH622
כָּל\־kol-everyH3605
חַיַּ֥תchai.Yat<the> animal ofH2416
הַשָּׂדֶ֖הha.sa.Dehthe fieldH7704
הֵתָ֥יוּhe.Ta.yubring [them]H857
לְאָכְלָֽה\׃le.'okh.Lahfor foodH402

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 12:9

  • Isaiah 56:9

    All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

  • Jeremiah 7:33

    And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

  • 2 Kings 24:2

    And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

  • Revelation 19:17-18

    And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

  • Ezekiel 23:22-25

    Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments. And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

  • Ezekiel 16:36-37

    Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

  • Ezekiel 39:17-20

    And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord God.

  • Revelation 17:16

    And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

  • Jeremiah 2:15

    The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

  • Jeremiah 15:3

    And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mine.Or rather, as the learned Bochart renders, "Is then my heritage (people) to me as a fierce hyæna? Is there a wild beast all around upon her?" i.e., the land of Canaan. The hyæna 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.
2:15; 2Ki 24:2; Eze 16:36,37; 23:22-25; Re 17:16
come ye.
7:33; Isa 56:9; Eze 39:17-20; Re 19:17,18
come. or, cause them to come.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 12:8

    Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

  • Jeremiah 12:9

    Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

  • Jeremiah 12:10

    Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Read all of Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah 12:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Esme mi heredad ave de muchos colores? ¿no están contra ella aves en derredor? Venid, reuníos, vosotras todas las bestias del campo, venid á devorarla.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mon héritage m’est comme un oiseau de proie tacheté; les oiseaux de proie sont contre lui, tout à l’entour. Venez, assemblez toutes les bêtes des champs, faites-les venir pour dévorer.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ist mir mein Erbteil ein bunter Raubvogel, daß Raubvögel rings um dasselbe her sind? Auf! versammelt alle Tiere des Feldes, bringet sie zum Fraße herbei!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Numquid avis discolor hæreditas mea mihi? numquid avis tincta per totum? Venite, congregamini, omnes bestiæ terræ: properate ad devorandum.