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Monday, July 14th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Easy-to-Read Version

Hosea 13:7

"That is why I will be like a lion to them. I will be like a leopard waiting by the road.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Leopard;   Thompson Chain Reference - Animals;   Leopards;   The Topic Concordance - Forgetting;   Help;   Salvation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Leopard;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Leopard;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Animals;   Destroy, Destruction;   Lion;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Alexander;   Leopard;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Animals;   Hosea;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Leopard;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Leopard ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Bear,;   Leopard;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Lion;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Leopard;   Observe;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Leopard;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So I will be like a lion to them;I will lurk like a leopard on the path.
Hebrew Names Version
Therefore am I to them like a lion; Like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
King James Version
Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
English Standard Version
So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
New American Standard Bible
So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
New Century Version
That is why I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard waiting by the road.
Amplified Bible
So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will watch and lie in wait [ready to attack] by the road [to Assyria].
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I wil be vnto them as a very lyon, and as a leopard in the way of Asshur.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
Legacy Standard Bible
So I will be like a lion to them;Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
Berean Standard Bible
So I will pounce on them like a lion; like a leopard on the path I will lurk.
Contemporary English Version
Now I will attack like a lion, ambush you like a leopard,
Complete Jewish Bible
So now I have become like a lion to them; like a leopard I will lurk by the road;
Darby Translation
And I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard I will lurk for them by the way;
George Lamsa Translation
Hence I will be to them like a lion; like a leopard by the way of Assyria.
Good News Translation
So I will attack you like a lion. Like a leopard I will lie in wait along your path.
Lexham English Bible
And I will be like a lion to them; I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard.
Literal Translation
Now I am as a lion to them; I will watch by the way like a leopard.
American Standard Version
Therefore am I unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
Bible in Basic English
So I will be like a lion to them; as a cruel beast I will keep watch by the road;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore am I become unto them as a lion; as a leopard will I watch by the way;
King James Version (1611)
Therefore I will bee vnto them as a Lion, as a Leopard by the way will I obserue them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therfore wyll I be vnto them as a lion, and as a leoparde in the wayes to the Assyrians.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will be to them as a panther, and as a leopard.
English Revised Version
Therefore am I unto them as a lion: as a leopard will I watch by the way:
World English Bible
Therefore am I to them like a lion; Like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal be as a lionesse to hem, as a parde in the weye of Assiriens.
Update Bible Version
Therefore I am to them as a lion; as a leopard I will watch by the way;
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore I will be to them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe [them].
New English Translation
So I will pounce on them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
New King James Version
"So I will be to them like a lion; Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;
New Living Translation
So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.
New Life Bible
So I will be like a lion to them. I will lie in wait by the road like a leopard.
New Revised Standard
So I will become like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore am I become to them as a lion, - As a leopard by the way, do I watch.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians.
Revised Standard Version
So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
Young's Literal Translation
And I am to them as a lion, As a leopard by the way I look out.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore will I be vnto them as a lyon, and as a leoparde in ye waye to the Assirians.
THE MESSAGE
"I'll charge them like a lion, like a leopard stalking in the brush. I'll jump them like a sow grizzly robbed of her cubs. I'll rip out their guts. Coyotes will make a meal of them. Crows will clean their bones. I'm going to destroy you, Israel. Who is going to stop me? Where is your trusty king you thought would save you? Where are all the local leaders you wanted so badly? All these rulers you insisted on having, demanding, ‘Give me a king! Give me leaders!'? Well, long ago I gave you a king, but I wasn't happy about it. Now, fed up, I've gotten rid of him. I have a detailed record of your infidelities— Ephraim's sin documented and stored in a safe-deposit box.

Contextual Overview

5 I knew you in the desert—I knew you in that dry land. 6 I gave food to the Israelites, and they ate it. They became full and satisfied. They became proud, and then they forgot me. 7 "That is why I will be like a lion to them. I will be like a leopard waiting by the road. 8 I will attack them like a bear whose cubs were robbed from her. I will attack them and rip open their chests. I will be like a lion or other wild animal tearing and eating its prey.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hosea 5:14, Isaiah 42:13, Jeremiah 5:6, Lamentations 3:10, Amos 1:2, Amos 3:4, Amos 3:8

Reciprocal: Genesis 49:27 - at night Job 10:16 - Thou huntest Psalms 7:2 - rending Isaiah 17:3 - fortress Isaiah 17:10 - thou hast Jeremiah 2:15 - young lions Jeremiah 25:30 - roar Jeremiah 25:38 - hath Daniel 7:6 - lo Hosea 2:10 - and none shall Hosea 6:1 - he hath torn Revelation 13:2 - was like

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
The land where the Canaanites lived went from Sidon down along the coast to Gerar and from Gaza as far east as Sodom and Gomorrah and from Admah and Zeboiim as far north as Laish.
Genesis 12:6
Abram traveled through the land as far as the town of Shechem and then to the big tree at Moreh. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time.
Genesis 13:14
After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, "Look around you. Look north, south, east, west.
Genesis 13:15
All this land that you see I will give to you and your people who live after you. This will be your land forever.
Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the big trees of Mamre. This was near the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to honor the Lord .
Genesis 21:25
Then Abraham complained to Abimelech because Abimelech's servants had captured a well of water.
Genesis 26:20
But the men who herded sheep in the Valley of Gerar argued with Isaac's servants. They said, "This water is ours." So Isaac named that well Esek. He gave it that name because it was the place where they had argued with him.
Genesis 34:30
But Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have caused me a lot of trouble. All the people in this place will hate me. All the Canaanites and the Perizzites will turn against me. There are only a few of us. If the people in this place gather together to fight against us, I will be destroyed. And all our people will be destroyed with me."
Exodus 2:17
But there were some shepherds there who chased the girls away and would not let them get water. So Moses helped the girls and gave water to their animals.
Nehemiah 5:9
So I continued speaking. I said, "What you people are doing is not right! You know that you should fear and respect our God. You should not do the shameful things other people do!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 f 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. 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; 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 h; and such is the vigilance and agility of leopards, that they will sometimes, as Pliny i 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", c.

f שחל "vetus leo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. g על דרך אשור δατα την οδον ασσυριων Sept. "in via Assyriormm", V. L. "super via Assyriae", Schmidt "in via Assyria", Liveleus, Cocceius. h Adrichomii Thestrum Terrae Sanct. p. 186. i Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 73.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will be unto them as a lion - They had waxen fat, were full; yet it was, to become themselves a prey. Their wealth which they were proud of, which they abused, allured their enemies. To cut off all hopes of God’s mercy, He says that he will be to them, as those creatures of His, which never spare. The fierceness of the lion, and the swiftness of the leopard, together portray a speedy inexorable chastisement. But what a contrast I He who bare Israel in the wilderness like a Father, who bare them on eagle’s wings, who drew them with the cords of a man, with bands of love, He, the God of mercy and of love, their Father, Protector, Defender, Avenger, He it is who will be their destroyer.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hosea 13:7. I will be unto them as a lion — שחל shachal is supposed to mean here the black lion, frequent in Ethiopia.

As a leopard — נמר namar, so termed from its spotted skin, for to be spotted is the signification of the root.

Will I observe them — The leopard, tiger, and panther will hide themselves in thick bush-wood, near where they expect any prey to pass; and as soon as it comes near, spring suddenly upon it. To this is the allusion in the text: "By the way will I observe them;" watch for them as the leopard does. They shall be greatly harassed even on their way to Assyria, when going into captivity.


 
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