The lion roars and the wildcat snarls, but the teeth of strong lions will be broken.
Parallel translations
- WEB The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
- KJV The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
- BSB The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- NKJV The roaring of the lion, The voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- NASB “The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken out.
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
Eliphaz uses the image of a lion whose teeth are broken to argue that the wicked, however fierce, are ultimately rendered powerless. It matters because it sets up his assumption that calamity proves hidden guilt.
Overview
Continuing his first speech, Eliphaz draws on a stock proverb: predatory lions stand for the strong and violent, whose power God breaks. He implies Job's suffering fits this pattern of judgment on the wicked. The principle that God humbles the proud is true, but Eliphaz misapplies it to the innocent Job, exposing how even orthodox truths can wound when wrongly aimed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 58:6Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.
- Ps 3:7Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
- Prov 30:14There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.
- Ps 57:4My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
- Job 5:15But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
- Job 29:17I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:10 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.