Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
Therefore I will be unto them as a lion - (Hosea 5:14; Lamentations 3:10, "He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places").
As a leopard by the way. The Hebrew х kªnaameer (H5246)] comes from a root [miyr] to variegate, referring to its being spotted (cf. Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the leopard change his spots?" Leopards lurk in thickets, and thence spring on their victims.
Will I observe them - i:e., lie in wait for them. Several manuscripts, the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic read, by a slight change of the Hebrew vowel-pointing, 'by the way of Assyria' [`ashuwr, for 'aashuwr], a region abounding in leopards and lions. The English version is better.