properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
speckled
צָב֤וּעַtza.Vu.a'
H6641
dyed (in stripes) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
bird
הַעַ֨יִטha.'A.yit
H5861
a hawk or other bird of prey · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular absolute
birds
הַעַ֖יִטha.'A.yit
H5861
a hawk or other bird of prey · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
about
סָבִ֣יבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
come
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
assemble
אִסְפ֛וּ'is.Fu
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
beasts
חַיַּ֥תchai.Yat
H2416
alive · noun, common feminine singular construct
field
הַשָּׂדֶ֖הha.sa.Deh
H7704
a field (as flat) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
come
הֵתָ֥יוּhe.Ta.yu
H857
to arrive · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
devour
לְאָכְלָֽהle.'okh.Lah
H402
food · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
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…
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…
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 ga…
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 beast…
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…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 12:7-13
The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin.
I. God is here brought in falling out with them and leaving them desolate; and they could never have been undone if they had not provoked God to desert them. It is a terrible word that God here says (Jer 12:7): I have forsaken my house - the temple, which had been his palace; they had polluted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left my heritage, and will look after it no more. His people that he has taken such delight in, and care of, are now thrown out of his protection. They had been the dearly beloved of his soul, precious in his sight and honorable above any people, which is mentioned to aggravate their sin in returning him hatred for…
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 (Isa 56:9; Eze 34:5).
John Gill on Jeremiah 12:9
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 p…
The Edomites and the Moabites and the Ammonites and the foreigners were always of a hateful and malicious disposition toward the Jews. When they saw the misfortunes brought against the Jews, they exulted over the Jews. For this reason he teaches them in advance of the future calling again of the Jews. And he calls their rulers "shepherds."
The house of God has been made a den of thieves! This is the house of which Jeremiah says, "Has not my house become for me the den of a hyena?" Here we have "you have made it a den of thieves," in Jeremiah, "the den of a hyena." We have to know the nature of this animal. Then from that, we shall be able to learn why the prophet called God's house a hyena's den. The hyena is never seen in the daytime but always at night. Never is it seen in the light but always in the darkness.
(Ver. 9.) Is my inheritance like a colorful bird to me? Is it like a bird dyed all over? Come, gather all the beasts of the earth; hurry to devour. LXX: Is the den of the hyena my inheritance? Is there a den all around it, above it? Go, gather all the animals of the field; let them come and eat it. According to the letter, he calls the colorful and fully dyed bird a peacock. He says that Israel had such great beauty and Jerusalem was distinguished by such virtues that there was nothing good that could not be seen in it. Therefore, since an inheritance was once made for me, that is, the people of Israel, like a lion in the forest, and they spoke against me, and I detested them with all hatred: therefore come and gather against them all the beasts of the earth, a multitude of diverse nations, and devour them who have not known their Lord. But if, as the Septuagint and other interpreters have translated, it is read: Is my inheritance to me a den of hyenas, shall we return to the uncleanness of the nocturnal beast, which lives on the corpses of the dead, and is accustomed to dig up bodies from tombs, and there is no filthiness that it does not feed on. Such is Israel offending his Lord, and delivered to the bites of all beasts.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Hyaena — Authorities differ as to whether the term tzabu’a in (Jeremiah 12:9) means a “hyaena” or a “speckled bird.” The only other instance in which it occurs is as a proper name, Zeboim, (1 Samuel 13:18)…
Birds · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Jeremiah 12:9
Jeremiah 12:9
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.
9. An avis picta (vel, tineta, aut, colorata) hrereditas mea mihi? an avis in circuitu super earn? Venite, colligite vos (alii transitive acdipiunt, congregate omnes bestias, sed subaudiendum est, congregate vos) omnes bestiae agri (hoc est, onmes bestiae agrestes) venite ad devorandum ipsam.
The beginning of this verse is variously explained, Some think that a kind of bird is here meant, which has various colors, one variegated, which excites all other birds against itself; but this is without meaning. Others are of the opinio…
The execution of the judgment on Judah and its enemies. - As to this passage, which falls into two strophes, Jer 12:7-13 and Jer 12:14-17, Hitz., Graf, and others pronounce that it stands in no kind of connection with what immediately precedes. The connection of the two strophes with one another is, however, allowed by these commentators; while Eichh. and Dahler hold Jer 12:14-17 to be a distinct oracle, belonging to the time of Zedekiah, or to the seventh or eighth year of Jehoiakim. These views are bound up with an incorrect conception of the contents of the passage-to which in the first place we must accordingly direct our attention.
Jer 12:7
"I have forsaken mine house, cast out mine her…
The people of Judah would become prey to huge flocks of speckled vultures. The people would soon be corpses that wild animals would pick . . . clean.
Rashi on Jeremiah 12:9
Is...a speckled bird of prey? The ‘heh’ is that of the interrogative. Therefore, it is vowelized with a ‘pattah.’ Are they like a speckled bird of prey, stained with blood, around which other birds gather? Another explanation:
Is...a speckled bird of prey One bird is speckled, and all the birds gather around it to eat it because they hate it.
Are there birds of prey around her? Are these armies fowl of the heavens, the swift troops that are around her?
