¹ tn Heb “young lions.”

³ tn Heb “a lion in hiding places.”

² tn Heb “is a roaring like a lion.”

³ tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”

² tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”

³ tn Heb “and look, a young lion of the lions was roaring to meet him.”

¹ tn This verb is often used of a lion’s roar, so the psalmist may be comparing the enemy to a raging, devouring lion.

¹ tn Or “What has become of the den of the lions?”

¹ tn Heb “Like a lion he has left his lair.”

² tn Heb “have become to me like a lion.”

² tn Heb “So I will be like a lion to them” (so NASB); cf. NIV “I will come upon them like a lion.”

¹ sn The identity of this second lion is unclear; the referent is probably Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. If the lioness is Hamutal, then Zedekiah is the lion described here.

² tc The Kethib is written אַרְיֵה (ʾaryeh, “lion”), while the Qere is אֲרִי (ʾari, “lion”), simply a short spelling of the same term (BDB 71 s.v. אַרְיֵה).

¹ tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).

¹ tn Heb “Lions shout over him; they give out [raise] their voices.”

¹ sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.

¹ sn The psalmist again compares his enemies to vicious dogs and ferocious lions (see vv. 13, 16).

² tn Heb “him” or “it”; the referent (the lion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn The Assyrian warriors are pictured as young lions in Nah 2:11-13. The Assyrians often pictured themselves with lion imagery (see D. Marcus, “Animal Similes in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions,” Or 46 [1977]: 87).

⁵ tn Or “and no one frightened [them].” Alternately, reflecting a different division of the lines, “Where the lion [and] lioness [once] prowled // the lion-cub—and no one disturbed [them].”