He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
Parallel translations
- WEB He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
- KJV He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
- NKJV He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush.
- NASB He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.
- NLT He has hidden like a bear or a lion, waiting to attack me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He pictures God as a lurking bear and a hidden lion ready to attack. It expresses feeling hunted by God himself.
Overview
The sufferer compares God to a predatory bear and lion lying in ambush, an image of sudden, dangerous attack. Such bold language reflects the depth of his felt distress under judgment. Remarkably, the same God who seems a lion here is, in the fuller revelation of Scripture, the Lion of Judah who conquers as the slain Lamb to save his people (Revelation 5:5-6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 10:9He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
- Hos 6:1Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Amos 5:18–20Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
- Isa 38:13I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Hos 5:14For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.
- Job 10:16Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
- Hos 13:7–8So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
- Ps 17:12like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.