Jeremiah 15:3

I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through Jeremiah to the remnant of Judah during national collapse. The declaration immediately follows a warning that survivors will face only death, the sword, famine, or captivity.

The words — The verb פָּקַדְתִּי (paqadti) literally means I will appoint or visit, establishing divine agency over the coming judgment. The noun מִשְׁפָּחוֹת (mishpaḥot) translates as kinds or families, specifying four distinct categories of destroyers.

The thread — The imagery of unburied corpses for birds and beasts echoes Deuteronomy 28:26. The progression of divine judgments parallels the warnings in Leviticus 26:16 and Leviticus 26:22.

Why it lands — The text states that God will actively appoint specific instruments of ruin rather than leaving destruction to chance. It asks the reader to recognize that national collapse is a direct, ordered execution of covenant consequences.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

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.
Leviticus 26:16 then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
Leviticus 26:22 I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
Leviticus 26:25 And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
Ezekiel 14:21 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?
Revelation 6:8 Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.
1 Kings 21:23 And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
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.
Jeremiah 7:33 The 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.
Isaiah 56:9 Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.