All that found them have devoured them
As lost and wandering sheep are liable to be found, and to be devoured, by every beast of prey, lions, wolves, and bears; so the Jews were found by their neighbours, their enemies, and especially by the Chaldeans, having forsaken God, and being forsaken by him; and which is their case now, and are often found and seized upon by their enemies, and made a prey of under one pretence or another: and their adversaries said, we offend not;
we are not guilty of any evil, in taking away their lives, or stripping them of their substance: because they have sinned against the Lord;
and therefore are justly punished in this way; and it is no other than what the Lord threatened them with, and foretold by his prophets should come upon them: this they said, not that they feared the Lord, or had any regard to his honour and glory, but to excuse themselves, which would not do; for though they sinned against the Lord, they had not sinned against them, and they had no right to destroy them, and plunder them of their substance; and so it is now, many think it no crime to injure the Jews in their persons and property, because they have sinned against Christ, and rejected him as the Messiah, who is the habitation of justice;
the dwelling place of the saints, the city of refuge and strong tower, whither the righteous run and are safe: even the Lord, the hope of their fathers;
whom their fathers hoped for and expected, he being spoken and prophesied of by all the prophets that were from the beginning of the world, and therefore called the Hope of Israel, ( Jeremiah 14:8 ) ( 17:13 ) .