When the sun rises they withdraw, And they lie down in their dens.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sun rises, and they steal away, and lay down in their dens.
- KJV The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
- BSB The sun rises, and they withdraw; they lie down in their dens.
- NKJV When the sun rises, they gather together And lie down in their dens.
- NLT At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest.
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
When the sun rises the lions withdraw and lie down in their dens. God's ordering of day and night governs even the creatures' rhythms.
Overview
As dawn breaks, the night creatures retreat, yielding the day to others. The orderly succession of night and day reflects God's wise governance of all life. Each creature keeps the bounds the Creator sets, a quiet testimony to the ordering wisdom revealed fully in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 37:8Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens.
- Job 24:13–17“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
- John 3:20For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
- Nah 3:17Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 104:22 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
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