Amos 3:7-8

3:7 Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

3:8 A lion has roared! ¹  Who is not afraid?

The sovereign Lord has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy? ² 

Proverbs 20:2

20:2 The king’s terrifying anger ³  is like the roar of a lion;

whoever provokes him ⁴  sins against himself. ⁵ 

Isaiah 42:13

42:13 The Lord emerges like a hero,

like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; ⁶ 

he shouts, yes, he yells,

he shows his enemies his power. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 25:30

25:30 “Then, Jeremiah, ⁸  make the following prophecy ⁹  against them:

‘Like a lion about to attack, ¹⁰  the Lord will roar from the heights of heaven;

from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly.

He will roar mightily against his land. ¹¹ 

He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes ¹² 

against all those who live on the earth.

Hosea 13:8

13:8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs –

I will rip open their chests.

I will devour them there like a lion –

like a wild animal would tear them apart.

Joel 2:11

2:11 The voice of the Lord thunders ¹³  as he leads his army. ¹⁴ 

Indeed, his warriors ¹⁵  are innumerable; ¹⁶ 

Surely his command is carried out! ¹⁷ 

Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome ¹⁸ 

and very terrifying – who can survive ¹⁹  it?

Joel 3:16

3:16 The Lord roars from Zion;

from Jerusalem ²⁰  his voice bellows out. ²¹ 

The heavens ²²  and the earth shake.

But the Lord is a refuge for his people;

he is a stronghold for the citizens ²³  of Israel.

[3:8]  ¹ sn The roar of the lion is here a metaphor for impending judgment (see 1:2; cf. 3:4, 12). Verses 7-8 justify Amos’ prophetic ministry and message of warning and judgment. The people should expect a prophetic message prior to divine action.

[3:8]  ² sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.

[20:2]  ³ tn Heb “the terror of a king” (so ASV, NASB); The term “terror” is a metonymy of effect for cause: the anger of a king that causes terror among the people. The term “king” functions as a possessive genitive: “a king’s anger” (cf. NIV “A king’s wrath”; NLT “The king’s fury”).

[20:2]  ⁴ tn The verb מִתְעַבְּרוֹ (mit’abbÿro) is problematic; in the MT the form is the Hitpael participle with a pronominal suffix, which is unusual, for the direct object of this verb usually takes a preposition first: “is angry with.” The LXX rendered it “angers [or, irritates].”

[20:2]  ⁵ sn The expression “sins against himself” has been taken by some to mean “forfeits his life” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “endangers his life” (cf. NCV, NLT). That may be the implication of getting oneself in trouble with an angry king (cf. TEV “making him angry is suicide”).

[42:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “like a man of war he stirs up zeal” (NIV similar).

[42:13]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “he triumphs over his enemies” (cf. NIV); NLT “will crush all his enemies.”

[25:30]  ⁸ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to make clear who is being addressed.

[25:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “Prophesy against them all these words.”

[25:30]  ¹⁰ tn The words “like a lion about to attack” are not in the text but are implicit in the metaphor. The explicit comparison of the Lord to a lion is made at the end of the passage in v. 38. The words are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[25:30]  ¹¹ sn The word used here (Heb “his habitation”) refers to the land of Canaan which the Lord chose to make his earthly dwelling (Exod 15:13) and which was the dwelling place of his chosen people (Jer 10:25; Isa 32:18). Judgment would begin at the “house of God” (v. 29; 1 Pet 4:17) but would extend to the rest of the earth (v. 29).

[25:30]  ¹² sn The metaphor shifts from God as a lion to God as a mighty warrior (Jer 20:11; Isa 42:13; Zeph 3:17) shouting in triumph over his foes. Within the metaphor is a simile where the warrior is compared to a person stomping on grapes to remove the juice from them in the making of wine. The figure will be invoked later in a battle scene where the sounds of joy in the grape harvest are replaced by the sounds of joy of the enemy soldiers (Jer 48:33). The picture is drawn in more gory detail in Isa 63:1-6.

[2:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”

[2:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “before his army.”

[2:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “military encampment.”

[2:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “very large.”

[2:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”

[2:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) has “bear.”

[3:16]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “he sounds forth his voice.”

[3:16]  ²² tn Or “the sky.” See the note on “sky” in 2:30.

[3:16]  ²³ tn Heb “sons.”