Bible Strands
Lamentations 3:10
He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The afflicted speaker in Lamentations 3 describes God as a predator blocking his route during a moment of acute persecution and despair.
The words — The Hebrew דּוֹב (do, "bear") and אֹרֵב ('orev, "lying in wait") paired with אֲרִי ('ari, "lion") and בְּמִסְתָּרִים (be-mistārîm, "in hiding places") literally depict a bear in ambush and a lion concealed for attack.
The thread — This motif of divine pursuit and ambush appears in Job 10:16, Psalms 10:9, and Isaiah 38:13.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the speaker perceives God as an active, concealed aggressor rather than a distant observer, framing the subsequent suffering as deliberate pursuit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
Cross-references
- Job 10:16 Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
- Psalms 10:9 He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
- Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
- Hosea 5:14 For 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.
- Hosea 6:1 Come, 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.
- Hosea 13:7 So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
- Amos 5:18 Woe 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.
- Psalms 17:12 like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.