7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
7 So I will be like a lion to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
7 So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
7 "I'll charge them like a lion, like a leopard stalking in the brush.
7 "So I will be to them like a lion; Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;
7 So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hosea 13:7
Commentary on Hosea 13:1-8
(Read Hosea 13:1-8)
While Ephraim kept up a holy fear of God, and worshipped Him in that fear, so long he was very considerable. When Ephraim forsook God, and followed idolatry, he sunk. Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves, in token of their adoration of them, affection for them, and obedience to them; but the Lord will not give his glory to another, and therefore all that worship images shall be confounded. No solid, lasting comfort, is to be expected any where but in God. God not only took care of the Israelites in the wilderness, he put them in possession of Canaan, a good land; but worldly prosperity, when it feeds men's pride, makes them forgetful of God. Therefore the Lord would meet them in just vengeance, as the most terrible beast that inhabited their forests. Abused goodness calls for greater severity.