Jeremiah 34:20
New International Version
I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.

New Living Translation
I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.

English Standard Version
And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

Berean Standard Bible
I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

King James Bible
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

New King James Version
I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.

New American Standard Bible
I will hand them over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.

NASB 1995
I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

NASB 1977
and I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

Legacy Standard Bible
And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

Amplified Bible
I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. And [like the body of the calf] their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

Christian Standard Bible
all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
will be handed over to their enemies, to those who want to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

American Standard Version
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.

English Revised Version
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them, and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.

Good News Translation
I will hand them over to their enemies, who want to kill them, and their corpses will be eaten by birds and wild animals.

International Standard Version
I'll give them to their enemies who are seeking to kill them, and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land.

Majority Standard Bible
I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

NET Bible
I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.

New Heart English Bible
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth.

Webster's Bible Translation
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food to the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

World English Bible
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
indeed, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcass has been for food to the bird of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth.

Young's Literal Translation
yea, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcase hath been for food to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth.

Smith's Literal Translation
And I gave them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul; and their corpses were for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life : and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And I will give them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who are seeking their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

New American Bible
These I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives: their corpses shall become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

New Revised Standard Version
shall be handed over to their enemies and to those who seek their lives. Their corpses shall become food for the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And I will deliver them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and their dead bodies shall be food for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And I shall deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their souls, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of Heaven and for the beasts of the Earth
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I will even give them to their enemies, and their carcases shall be food for the birds of the sky and for the wild beasts of the earth.
Audio Bible



Context
Freedom for Hebrew Slaves
19The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf, 20I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. 21And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:26
Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.

1 Samuel 17:44
“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

1 Kings 14:11
Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.’ For the LORD has spoken.

1 Kings 16:4
Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

1 Kings 21:24
Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

2 Kings 9:36-37
So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel. / And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”

Psalm 79:2
They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

Isaiah 18:6
They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.

Isaiah 56:9
Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.

Ezekiel 29:5
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.

Ezekiel 32:4
I will abandon you on the land and hurl you into the open field. I will cause all the birds of the air to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the earth to eat their fill of you.

Ezekiel 39:17-20
And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. / You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan. / At the sacrifice I am preparing, you will eat fat until you are gorged and drink blood until you are drunk. ...

Revelation 19:17-18
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, / so that you may eat the flesh of kings and commanders and mighty men, of horses and riders, of everyone slave and free, small and great.”

Matthew 24:28
Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

Luke 17:37
“Where, Lord?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”


Treasury of Scripture

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

and into.

Jeremiah 4:30
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Jeremiah 11:21
Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

Jeremiah 21:7
And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

and their.

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.

Jeremiah 16:4
They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Jeremiah 19:7
And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

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Jeremiah 34
1. Jeremiah prophesies the captivity of Zedekiah and the city.
8. The princes and the people having dismissed their bond-servants,
11. contrary to the covenant of God, re-assume them.
12. Jeremiah gives them and Zedekiah into the hands of their enemies.














I will hand them over
This phrase signifies a divine judgment and relinquishment of protection. In the Hebrew context, the verb "hand over" (נָתַן, natan) often implies a transfer of power or control. Historically, this reflects God's sovereignty and justice, where He allows consequences to unfold due to the people's disobedience. It is a sobering reminder of the seriousness of covenant faithfulness and the reality of divine retribution.

to their enemies
The term "enemies" (אֹיֵב, oyev) in Hebrew denotes adversaries or those who are hostile. In the historical context of Jeremiah, this refers to the Babylonians, who were instruments of God's judgment. This highlights the theme of God using even those outside the covenant community to fulfill His purposes, emphasizing His control over all nations and peoples.

who seek their lives
This phrase underscores the intent and determination of the enemies. The Hebrew word for "seek" (בָּקַשׁ, baqash) implies a diligent pursuit. It reflects the dire situation of the people, where their very existence is under threat. This serves as a warning of the consequences of turning away from God, where protection is withdrawn, and adversaries are allowed to prevail.

Their dead bodies
The imagery of "dead bodies" (פֶּגֶר, peger) is stark and graphic, emphasizing the totality of the judgment. In the ancient Near Eastern context, the treatment of the dead was significant, and leaving bodies unburied was a sign of utter disgrace and defeat. This phrase serves as a powerful symbol of the ultimate consequence of rebellion against God.

will become food
The phrase "will become food" (לְמַאֲכָל, lema'akal) indicates a complete and utter defeat. In the biblical context, this is a curse, as seen in Deuteronomy 28:26, where it is listed among the curses for disobedience. It signifies not only physical death but also a lack of honor in death, further emphasizing the severity of divine judgment.

for the birds of the air
The "birds of the air" (ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם, oph hashamayim) are often depicted in Scripture as agents of desecration when they consume unburied bodies. This imagery is used to convey the completeness of the judgment and the removal of divine protection. It serves as a vivid reminder of the consequences of forsaking God's covenant.

and the beasts of the earth
The "beasts of the earth" (בְּהֵמַ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ, behemah ha'aretz) further emphasize the theme of disgrace and abandonment. In the ancient world, being left for scavengers was a fate reserved for the most dishonored. This phrase underscores the totality of the judgment and serves as a call to repentance, highlighting the need for faithfulness to God to avoid such a fate.

(20) Their dead bodies shall be for meat . . .--As in Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7, this takes its place as the extremest penalty of transgression. The sentence on Zedekiah and his princes--i.e., those who were more immediately connected with his policy--is as before (Jeremiah 34:5) somewhat milder, probably because he, though too weak and vacillating to stop the evil which the prophet condemned, had not been actively prominent in the transgression of the covenant, and showed more disposition, as in Jeremiah 37:17, to listen to his counsels.

Verse 20. - And their dead bodies, etc. One of Jeremiah's repetitions (see Jeremiah 7:33).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I will hand over
וְנָתַתִּ֤י (wə·nā·ṯat·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

to
בְּיַ֣ד (bə·yaḏ)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

their enemies
אֹֽיְבֵיהֶ֔ם (’ō·yə·ḇê·hem)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 341: Hating, an adversary

who seek
מְבַקְשֵׁ֣י (mə·ḇaq·šê)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1245: To search out, to strive after

their lives.
נַפְשָׁ֑ם (nap̄·šām)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

Their corpses
נִבְלָתָם֙ (niḇ·lā·ṯām)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5038: A flabby thing, a carcase, carrion, an idol

will become
וְהָיְתָ֤ה (wə·hā·yə·ṯāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

food
לְמַֽאֲכָ֔ל (lə·ma·’ă·ḵāl)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3978: An eatable

for the birds
לְע֥וֹף (lə·‘ō·wp̄)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5775: Flying creatures

of the air
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם (haš·šā·ma·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8064: Heaven, sky

and the beasts
וּלְבֶהֱמַ֥ת (ū·lə·ḇe·hĕ·maṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 929: A dumb beast, any large quadruped, animal

of the earth.
הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 34:20 I will even give them into (Jer.)
Jeremiah 34:19
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