And of Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s whelp; He shall leap from Bashan.”
Parallel translations
- WEB About Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps out of Bashan.”
- KJV And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.
- BSB Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.”
- NASB Of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub; He leaps out from Bashan.”
- NLT Moses said this about the tribe of Dan: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out from Bashan.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Dan is likened to a lion's cub leaping out of Bashan. The tribe is pictured as bold and energetic.
Overview
The lion-cub imagery portrays Dan as vigorous and aggressive, fitting its later northward migration and conquests (Judg. 18). Bashan was a region noted for strength, reinforcing the picture of power. Like the other tribal images, it shows the varied character God gives His people, here a youthful boldness meant to serve under His rule.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Judg 18:27They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire.
- Josh 19:47The border of the children of Dan went out beyond them; for the children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and lived therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their forefather.
- Judg 15:15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
- Judg 13:2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.
- Judg 16:30Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
- Judg 13:24–25The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.
- Judg 14:19Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.
- 1 Chr 12:35Of the Danites who could set the battle in array, twenty-eight thousand six hundred.
- Judg 15:8He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
- Gen 49:16–17“Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
- Judg 14:6Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat; and he had nothing in his hand, but he didn’t tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 33:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.