Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your dead body will be food to all birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth; and there will be no one to frighten them away.
- KJV And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.
- NKJV Your carcasses shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
- NASB Your dead bodies will serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
- NLT Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The unburied dead will become food for birds and beasts, a sign of utter disgrace.
Overview
Lack of burial was a profound dishonor in the ancient world. This image of corpses left to scavengers depicts total defeat and shame. It conveys the horror of judgment that strips away even the dignity of the dead.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 16:4“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
- Jer 34:20I 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.
- Jer 7:33The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
- Jer 19:7And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
- Jer 8:1“At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.
- 1 Sam 17:44–46“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- Isa 34:3Their slain will be left unburied, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood.
- Ezek 39:17–20And 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.
- Ps 79:1–3A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 28:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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