Jeremiah 25:38

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.

"He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His fierce anger."

He has left his den like a lion seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the sword of the enemy and the LORD’s fierce anger.

God will come out into the open like a lion leaping from its cover, And the country will be torn to pieces, ripped and ravaged by his anger.

The lion has come out of his secret place, for the land has become a waste because of the cruel sword, and because of the heat of his wrath.

Like a lion he has left his covert; for their land has become a waste because of the cruel sword, and because of his fierce anger.

He has left His lair like the lion; For their land is desolate Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, And because of His fierce anger."

The Lord is like a lion who has left his lair. ¹  So their lands will certainly ²  be laid waste by the warfare of the oppressive nation ³  and by the fierce anger of the Lord.”

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

sn The text returns to the metaphor alluded to in v. 30. The bracketing of speeches with repeated words or motifs is a common rhetorical device in ancient literature.

² tn This is a way of rendering the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) which is probably here for emphasis rather than indicating cause (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי 1.e and compare usage in Jer 22:22).

³ tc Heb “by the sword of the oppressors.” The reading here follows a number of Hebrew mss and the Greek version. The majority of Hebrew mss read “the anger of the oppressor.” The reading “the sword of the oppressors” is supported also by the parallel use of this phrase in Jer 46:16; 50:16. The error in the MT may be explained by confusion with the following line which has the same beginning combination (מִפְּנֵי חֲרוֹן [mippÿne kharon] confused for מִפְּנֵי חֶרֶב [mippÿne kherev]). This reading is also supported by the Targum, the Aramaic paraphrase of the OT. According to BDB 413 s.v. יָנָה Qal the feminine singular participle (הַיּוֹנָה, hayyonah) is functioning as a collective in this idiom (see GKC 394 §122.s for this phenomenon).

sn The connection between “war” (Heb “the sword”) and the wrath or anger of the Lord has already been made in vv. 16, 27 and the sword has been referred to also in vv. 29, 31. The sword is of course a reference to the onslaughts of the Babylonian armies (see later Jer 51:20-23).