a lion (from his characteristic roar) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
leopard
כְּנָמֵ֖רke.na.Mer
H5246
a leopard (from its stripes) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
way
דֶּ֥רֶךְDe.rekh
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
observe
אָשֽׁוּר'a.Shur
H7789
to spy out · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 5:6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: ev…
Hosea 5:14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and non…
Lamentations 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
Isaiah 42:13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his…
Amos 1:2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top…
Amos 3:4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
Amos 3:8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 13:5-8
We may observe here, 1. The plentiful provision God had made for Israel and the seasonable supplies he had blessed them with (Hos 13:5): "I did know thee in the wilderness, took cognizance of thy case and made provision for thee, even in a land of great drought, when thou wast in extreme distress, and when no relief was to be had in an ordinary way." See a description of this wilderness, Deu 8:15, Jer 2:6, and say, The God that knew them, and owned them, and fed them there, was a friend indeed, for he was a friend at need and an all-sufficient friend, that could victual so vast an army when all ordinary ways of provision were cut off, and where, if miracles had not been their daily bread, th…
(Hos 5:14; Lam 3:10).
leopard--The Hebrew comes from a root meaning "spotted" (compare Jer 13:23). Leopards lurk in thickets and thence spring on their victims.
observe--that is, lie in wait for them. Several manuscripts, the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic read, by a slight change of the Hebrew vowel pointing, "by the way of Assyria," a region abounding in leopards and lions. English Version is better.
Adam Clarke on 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 bushwood, 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.
John Gill on 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 (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…
The Church Fathers
"And I will be to them like a lioness, like a leopard on the road to Assyria; I will confront them like a bear that has lost its cubs, and I will tear open their chests; there I will devour them like a lion - the wild animals will tear them apart." They were filled and satisfied; they lifted up their hearts and forgot me. But I, he said, will be to them like a lioness, or a panther, of which we have spoken more fully above: and like a leopard on the way of the Assyrians, when they are led captive by the Assyrians: and I will meet them like a bear robbed of its cubs, or an animal in need of food: and I will tear apart all their vital organs. Those who have written about the nature of wild beasts say that among all animals there is nothing more savage than a bear when it has lost its cubs or needs food; and he not only threatens the ferocity of panthers, leopards, bears, lions, and all wild beasts that are born in the forests, but he says that he will direct all of this towards them when they go to the Assyrians: lest they attribute their miseries not to the power and indignation of the Lord, but to the strength of their enemies, when they have suffered hard things there. And at the same time, let us consider what he who speakes in the Gospel to those who believe: "Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you; for my yoke is sweet and my burden light" (Matt. XI, 28, 29), now through the prophet he becomes a panther, pardus, bear and lion to the unbelievers and those who refuse to do penance: not only to the Israelites, because they were set up for idolatry in the cities or mountains of the Medes; but also to heretics because, due to the pride of their minds and the vanity of their false teachings, they have forgotten their God, have fashioned idols and have followed strange gods.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Leopard — (Heb. namer, so called because spotted, Cant. 4:8), was that great spotted feline which anciently infested the mountains of Syria, more appropriately called a panther (Felis pardus). Its fierceness…
Leopard · Fierceness of — Fierceness of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hosea 13:7-8
7. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
7. Et ero illis tanquam leo, tanquam pardus in via Assur (vel, aspiciam, vel, insidiabor, ut alii vertunt.)
8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
8. Occurram illis tanquam ursus orbatus (suis parvulis scilicet;) et disrumpam clausuram cordis eorum; vorabo eos quasi leo; [94] bestia agri scindet (vel, lacerabit) ipsos.
The Prophet denounces again on the Israelites the vengeance of God; and as they were become torpid through their own flatteries, as we h…
"And I became like a lion to them; as a leopard by the wayside do I lie in wait. Hos 13:8. I fall upon them as a bear robbed of its young, and tear in pieces the enclosure of their heart, and eat them there like a lioness: the beast of the field will tear them in pieces." The figure of the pasture which made Israel full (Hos 13:6) is founded upon the comparison of Israel to a flock (cf. Hos 4:16). The chastisement of the people is therefore represented as the tearing in pieces and devouring of the fattened flock by wild beasts. God appears as a lion, panther, etc., which fall upon them (cf. Hos 5:14). ואהי does not stand for the future, but is the preterite, giving the consequence of forgett…
God had executed judgment on Israel through the Assyrian army, his instrument of punishment. The description of God’s attack speaks of the Assyrians’ cruelty to those they conquered.
Rashi on Hosea 13:7
by the way I will lurk Heb. אָשּׁוּר. Every instance of אָשּׁוּר in Scripture is punctuated with a “dagesh,” but this one is “weak,” since it is not a place name but it means, “I will lurk and ambush.” Comp. (Num. 24:17) “I see him (אֲשּׁוּרֶנוּ) but not near.”
