Jeremiah 34:20

20 I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals.

Jeremiah 34:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 34:20

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies
The Chaldeans, who were the enemies of the Jews, that were come from a far country to invade, dispossess, ravage, and plunder them; and what can be a greater punishment than to be given up into an enemy's hand, to be in his power, and at his mercy? and into the hand of them that seek their life;
not their wealth and substance only, but their lives also; nothing less will content them: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven,
and to the beasts of the earth;
not only such should be the cruelty of their enemies that sought their lives, that they should slay them with the sword, and give them no quarter; but such their inhumanity, that they should not suffer their carcasses to be buried, but leave them exposed to birds and beasts of prey; of the princes of Judah, see ( Jeremiah 52:10 ) .

Jeremiah 34:20 In-Context

18 As for the men who violated my covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -

19 the leaders of Y'hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf;

20 I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals.

21 Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Bavel, which has withdrawn.

22 I will give the order,' says ADONAI, 'and cause them to return to this city. They will attack it, capture it and burn it to the ground; and I will make the cities of Y'hudah desolate and uninhabited.'"