Lamentations 3:10-11

ד (Dalet)

3:10 To me he is like a bear lying in ambush,

like a hidden lion stalking its prey.

3:11 He has obstructed my paths and torn me to pieces;

he has made me desolate.


tn Heb “he is to me [like] a bear lying in wait.”

tc The Kethib is written אַרְיֵה (’aryeh, “lion”), while the Qere is אֲרִי (’ari, “lion”), simply a short spelling of the same term (BDB 71 s.v. אַרְיֵה).

tn Heb “a lion in hiding places.”

tn Or “he made my paths deviate.”

tn “Since the Heb. וַיְפַשְּׁחֵנִי (vaypashÿkheni) occurs only here, and the translation relies on the Syriac and the Targum, it is not certain that the image of God as a predatory animal continues into this verse especially since [the beginning of the verse] is also of uncertain meaning” (D. R. Hillers, Lamentations [AB], 54).