Isaiah 31:4

The Lord Will Defend Zion

4 Indeed, this is what the Lord says to me:
“The Lord will be like a growling lion,
like a young lion growling over its prey.
Heb “As a lion growls, a young lion over its prey.” In the Hebrew text the opening comparison is completed later in the verse (“so the Lord will come down…”), after a parenthesis describing how fearless the lion is. The present translation divides the verse into three sentences for English stylistic reasons.

Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,
it is not afraid of their shouts
or intimidated by their yelling.
Heb “Though there is summoned against it fullness of shepherds, by their voice it is not terrified, and to their noise it does not respond.”

In this same way the Lord who commands armies will descend
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.
Some prefer to translate the phrase לִצְבֹּא עַל (litsbo al) as “fight against,” but the following context pictures the Lord defending, not attacking, Zion.

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