We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
The scope of this paragraph is the same with that of the last, to show that sin is the great mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon us.
Commenting on Isaiah 59:9-15
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves,.... Some in a more noisy and clamorous, others in a stiller way, yet all in private: for the bear, when robbed of its whelps, goes to its den and roars; and the dove, when it has lost its mate, mourns in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings of the saints under a sense of sin...
roar--moan plaintively, like a hungry bear which growls for food. doves-- (Isa 38:14; Eze 7:16). salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in their paths" (Isa 59:7).