He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding—the metaphorical shift to predatory animals suggests that God has become a wild beast, hostile and dangerous. The patience of the animals (lying in wait, hiding) suggests that the attack is not impulsive but calculated and deliberate. Theologically, the comparison of God to a dangerous predator represents the extreme of protest: the God who is supposed to be Israel's shepherd (Psalm 23:1) has become a predator. This represents a complete inversion of divine character; God has become the very kind of enemy Israel should fear. The lurking, hidden nature of the predator suggests that the sufferer never knows when the next assault will come; there is no safety, no predictability. The verse articulates the terror of existence under a hostile divine power.

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