1 Samuel 17:34

17:34 David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father’s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock,

Mazmur 7:3

7:3 O Lord my God, if I have done what they say, ¹ 

or am guilty of unjust actions, ² 

Yesaya 38:13

38:13 I cry out ³  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ⁴ 

Yeremia 5:6

5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them.

Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them.

Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities

and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. ⁵ 

For they have rebelled so much

and done so many unfaithful things. ⁶ 

[7:3]  ¹ tn Heb “if I have done this.”

[7:3]  ² tn Heb “if there is injustice in my hands.” The “hands” figuratively suggest deeds or actions.

[38:13]  ³ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “So a lion from the thicket will kill them. A wolf from the desert will destroy them. A leopard will watch outside their cities. Anyone who goes out from them will be torn in pieces.” However, it is unlikely that, in the context of judgment that Jeremiah has previously been describing, literal lions are meant. The animals are metaphorical for their enemies. Compare Jer 4:7.

[5:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “their rebellions are so many and their unfaithful acts so numerous.”