All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
Parallel translations
- KJV All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
- BSB Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.
- NKJV All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest.
- NASB ¶All you wild animals, All you animals in the forest, Come to eat.
- NLT Come, wild animals of the field! Come, wild animals of the forest! Come and devour my people!
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
God summons the beasts of field and forest to come and devour. It matters because it announces coming judgment on a people left vulnerable by failed leaders.
Overview
This abrupt call to wild animals to feed signals impending judgment, picturing Israel as exposed prey. It transitions from the welcome of outsiders to a rebuke of Israel's own corrupt watchmen. The verse warns that when leadership fails, God's flock is left defenseless against destruction.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 12:9Is 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.
- Deut 28:26Your 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.
- Isa 18:6They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will summer on them, and all the animals of the earth will winter on them.
- Ezek 39:17You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal 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 on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood.
- Rev 19:17–18I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, “Come! Be gathered together to the great supper of God,
- Ezek 29:5I’ll cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You’ll fall on the open field. You won’t be brought together, nor gathered. I have given you for food to the animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 56:9 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.