Matthew Poole and continuators on Jeremiah 12:9

9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird , the birds round about are against her t, come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour .

The word in the Heb. signifies to die, or colour, and Interpreters are here divided whether to interpret it of a Bird coloured by Nature, (so our Translators understood it, and therefore have translated it speckled) or by accident, as ravenous Birds are coloured by the blood of other birds killed by them. Hence some interpret the Text as a reflection upon the Iews for their Cruelty, coloured by their oppression and innocent bloodshed. Others of their tincture by a variety of Superstition and Idolatry, the latter seemeth to me most probable because of what follows, it being what is usual and natural for other birds to flock about a strange coloured bird such as they have not been used to see, but rather to fly from, than to come at a bird of prey, that hath already stained her Feathers with the blood of other birds.

But it may be understood of either, for the Iews were notoriously guilty of both, and it is God that causeth the birds to come against her, and the beasts of the field to devour.

Marginal references: Or, tallented.; Or, cause them to come.; chap. 7.33.