Jeremiah 12:8,9 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest Those that were my lambs and sheep, following me, their chief shepherd, and the guidance of those prophets and pastors whom I set over them, are become like lions in the forest roaring against me, and rending and tearing the prophets whom I send unto them, and who speak to them in my name. It My heritage; crieth out against me They blaspheme my name, oppose my authority, and bid defiance to my justice. Therefore have I hated it My disposition and conduct are changed toward them, and my heart is alienated from them, because their temper and behaviour are altered, and their hearts and ways alienated from me. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird Colorata, id est, fœdata sanguine, died or sprinkled with the blood of her prey. So R. Salomon interprets the words עישׂ צבוע, here used. Or, as some read it, Avis digitata, a bird with talons: so the margin; that is, a ravenous bird, uncis unguibus in prædam volans, says Buxtorf, flying on its prey with crooked claws. The meaning is, My people are become wild and savage, and, like a speckled, rapacious bird, are only fit for prey and deeds of violence. And as all the rest of the birds flock about such a one, and are ready to pull it in pieces; so have I stirred up all the enemies of my people to annoy them on every side; compared, in the next clause, to so many beasts of prey. See Jeremiah 2:15; Isaiah 56:9.