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. ¹ 

For they have rebelled so much

and done so many unfaithful things. ² 

Jeremiah 13:23

13:23 But there is little hope for you ever doing good,

you who are so accustomed to doing evil.

Can an Ethiopian ³  change the color of his skin?

Can a leopard remove its spots? ⁴ 

Daniel 7:6-7

7:6 “After these things, ⁵  as I was watching, another beast ⁶  like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. ⁷  This beast had four heads, ⁸  and ruling authority was given to it.

7:7 “After these things, as I was watching in the night visions ⁹  a fourth beast appeared – one dreadful, terrible, and very strong. ¹⁰  It had two large rows ¹¹  of iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it, and it had ten horns.

Hosea 13:7

13:7 So ¹²  I will pounce on them like a lion; ¹³ 

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Habakkuk 1:8

1:8 Their horses are faster than leopards

and more alert ¹⁴  than wolves in the desert. ¹⁵ 

Their horses ¹⁶  gallop, ¹⁷ 

their horses come a great distance;

like a vulture ¹⁸  they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. ¹⁹ 

[5:6]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”

[13:23]  ³ tn This is a common proverb in English coming from this biblical passage. For cultures where it is not proverbial perhaps it would be better to translate “Can black people change the color of their skin?” Strictly speaking these are “Cushites” inhabitants of a region along the upper Nile south of Egypt. The Greek text is responsible for the identification with Ethiopia. The term in Greek is actually a epithet = “burnt face.”

[13:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? [Then] you also will be able to do good who are accustomed to do evil.” The English sentence has been restructured and rephrased in an attempt to produce some of the same rhetorical force the Hebrew original has in this context.

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Aram “this.” So also in v. 7.

[7:6]  ⁶ tn Aram “and behold, another one.”

[7:6]  ⁷ tn Or “sides.”

[7:6]  ⁸ sn If the third animal is Greece, the most likely identification of these four heads is the four-fold division of the empire of Alexander the Great following his death. See note on Dan 8:8.

[7:7]  ⁹ tn The Aramaic text has also “and behold.” So also in vv. 8, 13.

[7:7]  ¹⁰ sn The fourth animal differs from the others in that it is nondescript. Apparently it was so fearsome that Daniel could find nothing with which to compare it. Attempts to identify this animal as an elephant or other known creature are conjectural.

[7:7]  ¹¹ tn The Aramaic word for “teeth” is dual rather than plural, suggesting two rows of teeth.

[13:7]  ¹² tn The vav consecutive + preterite form וָאֱהִי (va’ehi) introduces a consequential or result clause; cf. NAB “Therefore”; NCV “That is why.”

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

[1:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sharper,” in the sense of “keener” or “more alert.” Some translate “quicker” on the basis of the parallelism with the first line (see HALOT 291 s.v. חדד).

[1:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The present translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). On this phrase see also Zeph 3:3.

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “horsemen,” “cavalry.”

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn The precise nuance of the rare verb פָּוַשׁ (parash) is unclear here. Elsewhere it is used of animals jumping or leaping (see Jer 50:11; Mal 4:2).

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “eagle” (so NASB, NRSV). The term can refer to either eagles or vultures, but in this context of gruesome destruction and death “vulture” is preferred.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they fly like a vulture/an eagle quickly to devour.” The direct object “their prey” is not included in the Hebrew text but is implied, and has been supplied in the translation for clarity.