Hosea 13:7

7 So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Hosea 13:7 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
English Standard Version (ESV)
7 So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
New Living Translation (NLT)
7 So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.
The Message Bible (MSG)
7 "I'll charge them like a lion, like a leopard stalking in the brush.
American Standard Version (ASV)
7 Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
7 So I will be like a lion. Like a leopard I will wait by the road to ambush you.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
7 So I will be like a lion to them; I will lurk like a leopard on the path.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
7 So I will leap on you like a lion. I will hide and wait beside the road like a leopard.

Hosea 13:7 Meaning and Commentary

Hosea 13:7

Therefore I will be unto them as a lion,
Because of their idolatry, ingratitude, luxury, and especially their forgetfulness of God, which is last mentioned, and with which the words are connected. By this and the following metaphors are set forth the severity of God's judgments upon them for their sins, and their utter destruction by them. Some observe the word F6 here used signifies an old lion, which, though slower in the pursuit of its prey, is more cruel when it has got it; see ( Hosea 5:14 ) ; as a leopard by the way will I observe [them];
which is a quick sighted, vigilant, crafty, and insidious creature, which lurks in trees, and watches for men and beasts that pass by the way, and seizes on them. The lion makes his onset more openly, this more secretly; and both express the various ways God would take in his providence to chastise these people for their sins, and that he would watch over them to do them hurt, as he had to do them good, and take the proper opportunity of doing it, and execute his purpose with great wrath and fury, to their utter ruin; see ( Jeremiah 5:6 ) ( 44:27 ) . The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "as a leopard by the way of Assyria" {g}, or "the Assyrians"; and so some interpreters take the sense to be, that God would watch them in their way to Assyria for help, and blast their designs, disappoint them of their expected assistance, and surprise them with his judgments; see ( Hosea 5:13 ) ( 7:11 ) ( 8:9 ) ( Jeremiah 2:18 Jeremiah 2:19 ) ; and there was a mountain in Syria, called the mountain of the leopards, where they used to haunt, and from whence they came out to take their prey, to which there is a reference in ( Song of Solomon 4:8 ) ; which was two miles from Tripoli (a city of Syria) northward, three from the city Arces southward, and one from Mount Lebanon F8; and such is the vigilance and agility of leopards, that they will sometimes, as Pliny F9 says, mount thick trees, and hide themselves in the branches, and leap at once, and unawares, upon those that pass by, whether men or beasts, as before observed; wherefore, with great propriety, is this simile used. The Targum is, "my word shall be"


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (lxv) "vetus leo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F7 (rwva Krd le) (data thn odon assuriwn) Sept. "in via Assyriormm", V. L. "super via Assyriae", Schmidt; "in via Assyria", Liveleus, Cocceius.
F8 Adrichomii Thestrum Terrae Sanct. p. 186.
F9 Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 73.

Hosea 13:7 In-Context

5 I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.
7 So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them— a wild animal will tear them apart.
9 “You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Job 10:16; S Jeremiah 4:7
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