Jeremiah 25:38

He hath forsaken his covert a repetition of the figure with which the section opened. As the lion seeks other shelter, when that which he has dwelt in hitherto is destroyed, so Jehovah forsakes his land now that it has become desolate. But perhaps we should omit "as," and read "the lion leaves his covert," i.e. the very jungle is cleared away in devastation. The future fate of Judah is spoken of as already accomplished.

the fierceness of the oppressingsword] Observe the italics in text. Owing to the word rendered "oppressing" being scarcely found elsewhere except as an adjective in the expression "oppressing sword" (Jeremiah 46:16 and Jeremiah 50:16), a reading which by a slight alteration of the Hebrew for "fierceness" (supported by LXX) we obtain here, we may safely adopt it, discarding "the fierceness of." The Vulg. renders the Hebrew word above referred to in its more ordinary sense of a dove, i.e. Nebuchadnezzar, in reference to the Jewish belief that his standards bore that device.

and because of his fierce anger This clause is not found in LXX, but is wanted for parallelism, and so very possibly to be retained.