The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
Parallel translations
- KJV The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
- BSB The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
- NKJV The old lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
- NASB “The lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
- NLT The fierce lion will starve for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.
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 aged lion starves and its cubs are scattered, picturing the downfall and broken legacy of the wicked. It reinforces Eliphaz's claim that evildoers and their families come to ruin.
Overview
Eliphaz completes the lion image: not only the beast but its young are scattered, suggesting the wicked leave no enduring household. He hints that Job's loss of children points to such judgment. While Scripture does warn that sin can ruin families, Eliphaz's rigid retribution theology cannot account for the righteous sufferer, a tension the book will resolve only in God's own voice and ultimately at the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 34:10The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
- 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?
- Job 1:19and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- Ps 7:2lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.
- 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.”
- Job 38:39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
- Jer 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
- Hos 11:10They will walk after Yahweh, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west.
- 2 Tim 4:17But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- Job 27:14–15If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- 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.”
- Job 8:3–4Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
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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 4:11 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.