This verse speaks of a lion that abandons its home when destroyed and looks for another. Some scholars see here a comparison between the lion and the LORD, while others assume that the lion represents the destroying king (probably Nebuchadnezzar). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is quite clear in its rendering, “The Lord has set out as a lion….”
In place of Like a lion, some versions prefer “a lion,” assuming that “like” in the Hebrew text was an unintentional repetition of the first letter of the word for “lion” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt). However, this seems to make no real improvement in the text.
It is possible to interpret he (in he has left) as a collective reference to the LORD’s people: “The LORD’s people run away” (Good News Translation alternative rendering).
Covert means a hiding place or a thicket where animals can hide. Good News Translation has therefore said “cave.” Thus the first line can be translated “Like a lion leaving its hiding place, the LORD has abandoned [this land] where he dwelled.”
Waste translates the word first used in 2.15; its most recent occurrences are 25.9 (Revised Standard Version “reproach”), 11, 18.
Because of the sword of the oppressor follows several Hebrew manuscripts; the Masoretic Text has “because of the heat/anger of the oppressor.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, which prefers the Masoretic form of the text, indicates that “the oppressor” (better “the devastating one”) is a reference to the sword that is mentioned in 46.16; 50.16, but not here. Good News Translation follows the text accepted by Revised Standard Version and renders “The horrors of war….”
For fierce anger, see the previous verse.
The last three lines can be rendered:
• Their land has become a desert because of the warfare waged by the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .