The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
Parallel translations
- WEB The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness 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 they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
- Gen 49:9Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
- Job 1:19And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
- Ps 7:2Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
- Num 24:9He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
- Job 38:39Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
- Jer 4:7The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
- Hos 11:10They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
- 2 Tim 4:17Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
- Job 27:14–15If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- Num 23:24Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.
- Job 8:3–4Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
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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.