He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion 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.
- BSB He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding 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 lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.
- Hos 6:1“Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Amos 5:18–20“Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.
- Isa 38:13I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.
- Hos 5:14For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.
- Job 10:16If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.
- Hos 13:7–8Therefore I am like a lion to them. Like a leopard, I will lurk by the path.
- Ps 17:12He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
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.