When they crouch in their dens, Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait?
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?
- BSB when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
- 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 37:8Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens.
- Num 24:9He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
- Num 23:24Behold, the people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
- Gen 49:9Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.