Translation Commentary: Jeremiah 12:9

The NKJV translates the first part of the verse as: My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture. The ESV renders it: Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair? (Jer 12:9 ESV). Other translations are similar to one or the other. There are two issues here. First, is it “speckled vulture” or “hyena’s lair”? Second, is it a question or a statement?

As for the first question, the NKJV, perhaps, follows the Hebrew text more closely. The first word in Hebrew (ha’ayit) is certainly vulture or bird of prey. It is attested in a number of other passages, for example, Gen 15:11, Is 18:6, Ezek 39:4. The following word (tsabua’), which modifies “bird of prey,” occurs only here in the Old Testament. It may mean “speckled” or “spotted,” coming from an Aramaic verb that means “dip” or “dye,” but which is not used in the Old Testament (this is the explanation given in the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon). Hence, “speckled vulture” makes good sense of the Hebrew text. But the word “speckled” may in fact be another word that means “hyena.” This meaning is attested in the newer Hebrew lexicons. This possibility is strengthened by the fact that the Septuagint translates it by the standard Greek word for hyena. The first word in the verse the Septuagint translates as “cave,” though this is not the meaning of ‘ayit. It is not clear where the Septuagint translator got the idea of “cave” here. At any rate, the ESV has essentially followed the Septuagint and the Hebrew if the word tsabua’ means hyena. The NKJV has followed the Hebrew text more closely, assuming that tsabua’ means “speckled.”

The second issue is whether this line is a question or not. The first syllable of the first word is usually parsed as the interrogative particle. Hence the ESV, the Holman CSB, and the NASB translate it as a question. This particle may, however, function to introduce a rhetorical question with a presumed affirmative answer, so other translations have rendered this as a plain statement.