when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
Parallel translations
- WEB when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
- KJV When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
- NKJV When they crouch in their dens, Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?
- NASB When they crouch in their hiding places, And lie in wait in their lair?
- NLT as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?
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
The lions crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket, yet it is God who satisfies them. Their survival is his doing.
Overview
Continuing from the previous verse, God describes the lions lying in ambush as he meets their need. Their hunting succeeds because the Creator supplies them. The picture reinforces God's care for wild creatures that owe nothing to human hands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 37:8The wild animals enter their lairs; they settle down in their dens.
- Num 24:9He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- Num 23:24Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- Gen 49:9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 38:40 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.