The Lord’s lion-like roar can call for return (Hosea 11:10–11) or threaten judgment (Joel 3:16).1 The imagery of roaring is the warning that foreshadows an attack by a lion (Amos 3:4; Amos 3:8). The warning thus communicates the Lord’s intention to attack.2 Indeed, a lion roaring suggests that a covenant curse was about to be carried out by the Lord himself.3 This punishment would be the inevitable and just fulfillment of the curses promised in the Mosaic covenant.4
2 And he said: “The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”