Jeremiah 4:7

4:7 Like a lion that has come up from its lair ¹ 

the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ² 

He is coming out to lay your land waste.

Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

Jeremiah 5:6

5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.

Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.

Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities

and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. ³ 

For they have rebelled so much

and done so many unfaithful things. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 49:19

49:19 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan ⁵ 

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it. ⁶ 

So too I will chase the Edomites off their land. ⁷ 

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose. ⁸ 

For there is no one like me, and there is no one who can call me to account. ⁹ 

There is no ¹⁰  ruler ¹¹  who can stand up against me.

Jeremiah 50:44

50:44 “A lion coming up from the thick undergrowth along the Jordan

scatters the sheep in the pastureland around it.

So too I will chase the Babylonians off of their land.

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.

For there is no one like me.

There is no one who can call me to account.

There is no ruler that can stand up against me.

Psalms 76:2

76:2 He lives in Salem; ¹² 

he dwells in Zion. ¹³ 

Hosea 5:14

The Lion Will Carry Israel Off Into Exile

5:14 I will be like a lion to Ephraim,

like a young lion to the house of Judah.

I myself will tear them to pieces,

then I will carry them off, and no one will be able to rescue them!

Hosea 11:10

God Will Restore the Exiles to Israel

11:10 He will roar like a lion,

and they will follow the Lord;

when he roars,

his children will come trembling ¹⁴  from the west.

Hosea 13:7-8

13:7 So ¹⁵  I will pounce on them like a lion; ¹⁶ 

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

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.

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ¹⁷  will quake, ¹⁸ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ¹⁹  will rise like the River Nile, ²⁰ 

it will surge upward ²¹  and then grow calm, ²²  like the Nile in Egypt. ²³ 

Zechariah 2:3

2:3 At this point the angelic messenger ²⁴  who spoke to me went out, and another messenger came to meet him

[4:7]  ¹ tn Heb “A lion has left its lair.” The metaphor is turned into a simile for clarification. The word translated “lair” has also been understood to refer to a hiding place. However, it appears to be cognate in meaning to the word translated “lair” in Ps 10:9; Jer 25:38, a word which also refers to the abode of the Lord in Ps 76:3.

[4:7]  ² tn Heb “his place.”

[5:6]  ³ tn Heb “So a lion from the thicket will kill them. A wolf from the desert will destroy them. A leopard will watch outside their cities. Anyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces.” However, it is unlikely that, in the context of judgment that Jeremiah has previously been describing, literal lions are meant. The animals are metaphorical for their enemies. Compare Jer 4:7.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”

[49:19]  ⁵ tn See the study note on Jer 12:5 for the rendering of this term.

[49:19]  ⁶ tn “The pasture-ground on the everflowing river” according to KBL 42 s.v. I אֵיתָן 1. The “everflowing river” refers to the Jordan.

[49:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “Behold, like a lion comes up from the thicket of the Jordan into the pastureland of everflowing water so [reading כֵּן (ken) for כִּי (ki); or “indeed” (reading כִּי as an asseverative particle with J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 719, n. 6)] I will suddenly chase him [Edom] from upon it [the land].” The sentence has been restructured to better conform with contemporary English style and the significance of the simile drawn from the comparison has been spelled out for the sake of clarity. The form אַרְגִּיעָה (’argi’ah) is functioning here as an adverbial modifier in a verbal hendiadys (cf. GKC 386 §120.g).

[49:19]  ⁸ tn For the use of the interrogative מִי (mi) in the sense of “whoever” and functioning like an adjective see BDB 567 s.v. מִי g and compare the usage in Prov 9:4, 16.

[49:19]  ⁹ tn For the meaning of this verb in the sense of “arraign” or “call before the bar of justice” compare Job 9:19 and see BDB 417 s.v. יָעַד Hiph.

[49:19]  ¹⁰ tn The interrogative מִי (mi) is rendered “there is no one” in each of the last three occurrences in this verse because it is used in a rhetorical question that expects the answer “no one” or “none” and is according to BDB 566 s.v. מִי f(c) equivalent to a rhetorical negative.

[49:19]  ¹¹ tn The word “shepherd” (רֹעֶה, ro’eh) has been used often in the book of Jeremiah to refer metaphorically to the ruler or leader (cf. BDB 945 s.v. I רָעָה Qal.1.d(2) and compare usage, e.g., in Jer 2:8; 23:1).

[76:2]  ¹² sn Salem is a shorter name for Jerusalem (see Gen 14:18).

[76:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and his place of refuge is in Salem, and his lair in Zion.” God may be likened here to a lion (see v. 4).

[11:10]  ¹⁴ tn When the verb חָרַד (kharad, “to tremble”) is used with prepositions of direction, it denotes “to go or come trembling” (BDB 353 s.v. חָרַד 4; e.g., Gen 42:28; 1 Sam 13:7; 16:4; 21:2; Hos 11:10, 11). Thus, the phrase מִיָּם…וְיֶחֶרְדוּ (vÿyekherdu…miyyam) means “to come trembling from the west.” Cf. NAB “shall come frightened from the west.”

[13:7]  ¹⁵ tn The vav consecutive + preterite form וָאֱהִי (va’ehi) introduces a consequential or result clause; cf. NAB “Therefore”; NCV “That is why.”

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “So I will be like a lion to them” (so NASB); NIV “I will come upon them like a lion.”

[8:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ¹⁸ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ²⁰ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  ²¹ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ²² tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ²³ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.