This verse is paralleled (with the exception of the last clause) in 16.4; 19.7. But see also 34.20 and Deut 28.26. Death without burial was considered a gruesome fate (see Isa 18.6). For birds of the air, see 4.25. Beasts of the earth is simply a Hebrew way of saying “wild animals.”

Frighten … away translates a verb that more literally means “startle” or “cause to tremble”; it is used again in 30.10; 46.27, where Revised Standard Version renders “make … afraid.”

The entire verse may be rendered in one of the following ways:

• Birds and wild animals will gorge themselves on the corpses, and there will be no one to scare them off.

• Their bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals; no one will be left to frighten them away.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .