He hath forsaken his covert... — The image of Jeremiah 25:30 is reproduced. The thunder of Jehovah’s wrath is as the roaring of the lion (Amos 3:8). He is as the lion leaving its hiding-place in the forest, and going forth to do its work of vengeance.
Because of the fierceness of the oppressor. — A slight alteration, adopted by many commentators, gives “because of the sword of oppression,” as in Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 50:16. The word for “oppressor” or “oppression” also means “dove,” and is so taken by the Vulg., a facie iræ columbæ, and it has been stated that this bird was blazoned on the standards of the Babylonians (Diod. Sic. ii. 4), and so had become a symbol of their power. In Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 50:16 the LXX., which here gives “the great sword,” reads “the Greek sword,” as though the Hebrew word (Iona) meant Javan or Ionia. That meaning is, of course, out of the question here. On the whole there seems no reason for altering the English version, though the precise combination of words is an unusual one.