Bible Strands
Psalms 80:13
The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God, describing the exposure of a vineyard after protective walls were dismantled. The speaker catalogs the immediate consequences of that abandonment before pleading for divine intervention in the following verse.
The words — חֲזִיר (cha.Zir) translates as "wild boar," and יְכַרְסֵם (ye.khar.se.m) means "it eats away" or "ravages." These terms specify the agents and actions consuming the undefended vine.
The thread — The motif of wild animals executing judgment appears in Jeremiah 4:7 and Jeremiah 5:6, where lions and wolves similarly ravage the land. This imagery consistently marks divine withdrawal as the precursor to predatory destruction.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that removed protection invites total exploitation. It compels the reader to recognize vulnerability as the direct result of broken boundaries and to seek restoration before further loss occurs.
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
The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
- Jeremiah 5:6 Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.
- 2 Kings 18:1 In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.
- 2 Kings 24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
- 2 Chronicles 32:1 After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.
- 2 Chronicles 36:1 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
- Jeremiah 39:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.
- Jeremiah 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
- Jeremiah 52:7 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
- Jeremiah 52:12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.