Reference: Lions
Easton
the most powerful of all carnivorous animals. Although not now found in Palestine, they must have been in ancient times very numerous there. They had their lairs in the forests (Jer 5:6; 12:8; Am 3:4), in the caves of the mountains (Song 4:8; Na 2:12), and in the canebrakes on the banks of the Jordan (Jer 49:19; 50:44; Zec 11:3).
No fewer than at least six different words are used in the Old Testament for the lion. (1.) Gor (i.e., a "suckling"), the lion's whelp (Ge 49:9; Jer 51:38, etc.). (2.) Kephir (i.e., "shaggy"), the young lion (Jg 14:5; Job 4:10; Ps 91:13; 104:21), a term which is also used figuratively of cruel enemies (Ps 34:10; 35:17; 58:6; Jer 2:15). (3.) 'Ari (i.e., the "puller" in pieces), denoting the lion in general, without reference to age or sex (Nu 23:24; 2Sa 17:10, etc.). (4.) Shahal (the "roarer"), the mature lion (Job 4:10; Ps 91:13; Pr 26:13; Ho 5:14). (5.) Laish, so called from its strength and bravery (Job 4:11; Pr 30:30; Isa 30:6). The capital of Northern Dan received its name from this word. (6.) Labi, from a root meaning "to roar," a grown lion or lioness (Ge 49:9; Nu 23:24; 24:9; Eze 19:2; Na 2:11).
The lion of Palestine was properly of the Asiatic variety, distinguished from the African variety, which is larger. Yet it not only attacked flocks in the presence of the shepherd, but also laid waste towns and villages (2Ki 17:25-26) and devoured men (1Ki 13:24-25). Shepherds sometimes, single-handed, encountered lions and slew them (1Sa 17:34-35; Am 3:12). Samson seized a young lion with his hands and "rent him as he would have rent a kid" (Jg 14:5-6). The strength (Jg 14:18), courage (2Sa 17:10), and ferocity (Ge 49:9) of the lion were proverbial.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Judah is a lion's whelp. From spoil, my son, thou art come on high: he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dare stir him up?
Judah is a lion's whelp. From spoil, my son, thou art come on high: he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dare stir him up?
Judah is a lion's whelp. From spoil, my son, thou art come on high: he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dare stir him up?
Behold, the people shall rise up as a lioness and heave up himself as a lion; and shall not lie down again, until he have eaten of the prey and drunk of the blood of them that are slain!"
Behold, the people shall rise up as a lioness and heave up himself as a lion; and shall not lie down again, until he have eaten of the prey and drunk of the blood of them that are slain!"
He couched himself and lay down as a lion and as a lioness; who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee."
Then went Samson and his father and his mother down to Timnah. And when they came to the vineyards of Timnah, behold, a young lion roared upon him.
Then went Samson and his father and his mother down to Timnah. And when they came to the vineyards of Timnah, behold, a young lion roared upon him. And the spirit of the LORD came upon him. And he tare him, as a man would rent a kid, and yet had nothing in his hand. Nevertheless he told not his father and mother what he had done.
And the men of the city said unto him the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a Lion?" Then said he unto them, "If ye had not ploughed with my calf, ye had not found out my riddle."
Then said David unto Saul, "As thy servant kept his father's sheep, there came a Lion and likewise a Bear, and took a sheep out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him, and took it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and smote him and slew him.
By the reason whereof, the best men thou hast whose hearts are as the hearts of lions, shall shrink thereat. For all Israel knoweth that thy father is a man, and that they which be with him be children of activity.
And as he journeyed, a lion met him by the way and slew him, and his carcass lay along in the way and the ass stood thereby, and the lion stood by the corpse also. And men that passed by, saw the carcass cast along in the way and the lion standing thereby, and went and told it in the town where the old prophet dwelt.
But at the beginning of their dwelling, they feared not the LORD. Wherefore the LORD sent lions upon them, which slew them. Then men told the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which thou hast translated and put in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land, and therefore he hath sent lions upon them, which slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land."
The roaring of the lion, the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the lion's whelps are broken.
The roaring of the lion, the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the lion's whelps are broken. The lion perisheth, for lack of prey, and the lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
The lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they who seek the LORD shall want no manner of thing that is good.
LORD, how long wilt thou look upon this? O deliver my soul from the calamities which they bring on me, and my darling from the lions.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths; smite the jawbones of the lions, O LORD.
Thou shalt go upon the Lion and Adder, the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet.
Thou shalt go upon the Lion and Adder, the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet.
The lions, roaring after their prey, do seek their meat from God.
The slothful sayeth, "There is a leopard in the way, and a lion in the midst of the streets."
Come to me from Lebanon, O my spouse, come to me from Lebanon: come soon the next way from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of the leopards.
Your beasts have born burdens upon their backs toward the South, through the way that is full of peril and trouble, because of the lion and lioness; of the Cockatrice and shooting dragon. Yea the Mules bare your substance, and the Camels brought your treasure, upon their crooked backs, unto a people that cannot help you.
Why do they roar and cry then upon him, as a lion? They have made his land waste, his cities are so burnt up, that there is no man dwelling in them.
Wherefore a lion out of the wood shall hurt them, and a wolf in the evening shall destroy them. The cat of the mountain shall lie lurking by their cities, to tare in pieces all them that come thereout. For their offenses are many, and their departing away is great.
Mine heritage is become unto me, as a Lion in the wood. It cried out upon me, therefore have I forsaken it.
Behold, like as the Lion cometh up from the pleasant meadows of Jordan unto the green pastures of Etham, so will I drive him, and make him run against her. But who is the young man that I will ordain thereto? Who is like unto me? What is he that will strive with me? What shepherd may stand in my hands?
Behold, like as the Lion cometh up from the pleasant meadows of Jordan unto the green pastures of Ethan, so will I drive them forth, and make them run against her. But whom shall I choose out, and ordain to such a thing? For who is like me, or who will strive with me? Or what shepherd may stand against me?
They shall roar together like lions, and as the young lions when they be angry, so shall they bend themselves.
and say, "Wherefore lay thy mother, that lioness, among the lions, and nourished her young ones among the lion's whelps?
I am unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a lion's whelp to the house of Judah. Even I, I will spoil them, and go my way. I will take them with me, and no man shall rescue them.
Doth a lion roar in the woods, except he have prey? Or crieth a Lion's whelp out of his den, except he have gotten something?
Thus sayeth the LORD, 'like as a herdsman taketh two legs or a piece of an ear out of the lion's mouth: Even so the children of Israel that dwell in Samaria, having their couches in the corner, and the beds at Damascus, shall be plucked away.
Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the pasture of the lion's whelps? Where the lion and the lioness went with the whelps, and no man frayed them away? But the lion spoiled enough for his young ones, and devoured for his lioness: he filled his dens with his prey, and his dwelling place with that he had ravished.
Men may hear the shepherds mourn, for their glory is destroyed. Men may hear the lion's whelps roar, for the pride of Jordan is wasted away.