Hosea 13:7-8

‘Therefore am I to them as a lion,

As a leopard will I watch by the way,

I will meet them as a bear which is bereaved of her whelps,

And will rend the enclosure of their heart,

And there will I devour them like a lioness,

The wild beast shall tear them.’

And because of their behaviour and attitude towards them He was about to hunt them down, and tear them apart. He would be like a lion (compare Hosea 5:14), like a leopard waiting by the way for prey to come along, leaping on it as it passed by, like a bear bereaved of its cubs, which in its anguish would tear apart men’s breasts which contain their hearts, like a lioness seeking its prey and devouring it. The wild beast would tear them apart.

One of the curses of Leviticus 26:0 had been that wild beasts would make a prey of the people, and the picture also no doubt includes human ‘wild beasts’ who will do similarly (compare Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 5:6; Habakkuk 1:8; Zephaniah 3:3).