Psalms 80:13

the wood = forest. The Hebrew word for forest here ( miyya'ar) , has the letter Ayin suspended (see note on Judges 18:30 ). This is the second of four such suspended letters (the other two being Job 38:13 , Job 38:15 ). Read with this letter, the word means "forest"; without it, and with an Aleph instead, it is miyy 'a r , "river". The ancient Jewish interpreters took this suspended letter as denoting that, when innocent, Israel would be assailed only by a power weak as a river animal; but, when guilty, it would be destroyed by a power as strong as a land animal. Until the Roman power arose (whose military ensign was the "boar"), it was understood as "river" (meaning Egypt); but afterward the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Vulg, read "forest".