Jeremiah 34:20

34:20 I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. ¹ 

Psalms 79:2

79:2 They have given the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky; ² 

the flesh of your loyal followers

to the beasts of the earth.

Isaiah 18:6

18:6 They will all be left ³  for the birds of the hills

and the wild animals; ⁴ 

the birds will eat them during the summer,

and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.

Ezekiel 39:17-20

39:17 “As for you, son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Tell every kind of bird and every wild beast: ‘Assemble and come! Gather from all around to my slaughter ⁵  which I am going to make for you, a great slaughter on the mountains of Israel! You will eat flesh and drink blood. 39:18 You will eat the flesh of warriors ⁶  and drink the blood of the princes of the earth – the rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fattened animals of Bashan. 39:19 You will eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, ⁷  at my slaughter ⁸  which I have made for you. 39:20 You will fill up at my table with horses and charioteers, ⁹  with warriors and all the soldiers,’ declares the sovereign Lord.

Revelation 19:17-18

19:17 Then ¹⁰  I saw one angel standing in ¹¹  the sun, and he shouted in a loud voice to all the birds flying high in the sky: ¹² 

“Come, gather around for the great banquet ¹³  of God,

19:18 to eat ¹⁴  your fill ¹⁵  of the flesh of kings,

the flesh of generals, ¹⁶ 

the flesh of powerful people,

the flesh of horses and those who ride them,

and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, ¹⁷ 

and small and great!”

[34:20]  ¹ sn See this same phrase in Jer 7:33; 16:4; 19:7.

[79:2]  ² tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”

[18:6]  ³ tn Heb “they will be left together” (so NASB).

[18:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the beasts of the earth” (so KJV, NASB).

[39:17]  ⁵ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:18]  ⁶ sn See Rev 19:17-18.

[39:19]  ⁷ sn Eating the fat and drinking blood were God’s exclusive rights in Israelite sacrifices (Lev 3:17).

[39:19]  ⁸ tn Or “sacrifice” (so also in the rest of this verse).

[39:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “chariots.”

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:17]  ¹¹ tn The precise significance of ἐν (en) here is difficult to determine.

[19:17]  ¹² tn On μεσουρανήματι (mesouranhmati) here see L&N 1.10: “high in the sky, midpoint in the sky, directly overhead, straight above in the sky.” The birds mentioned here are carrion birds like vultures, circling high overhead, and now being summoned to feast on the corpses.

[19:17]  ¹³ tn This is the same Greek word (δεῖπνον, deipnon) used in 19:9.

[19:18]  ¹⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause, insofar as it is related to the first imperative, has the force of an imperative.

[19:18]  ¹⁵ tn The idea of eating “your fill” is evident in the context with the use of χορτάζω (cortazw) in v. 21.

[19:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “chiliarchs”; normally a chiliarch was a military officer commanding a thousand soldiers, but here probably used of higher-ranking commanders like generals (see L&N 55.15; cf. Rev 6:15).

[19:18]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.