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Animals of the Bible
Lion
Hebrew ari, kefir (young lion) · Greek leōn · the Asiatic lion
The lions of the Bible were Asiatic lions, a little smaller than African lions and with a shorter mane that leaves the ears visible. They lived in the thickets along the Jordan (Jeremiah 49:19) and in the hills, and at night they attacked flocks — a shepherd like David had to fight them off. Biblical Hebrew has several words for lions of different ages, from the cub to the grown male.
Assyrian kings hunted lions for sport, and the carved reliefs of King Ashurbanipal’s lion hunt are now in the British Museum. In Babylon, lions of glazed brick lined the processional way. Lions vanished from the land of Israel long ago, and from Syria and Mesopotamia in the 19th century. Today Asiatic lions live in the wild only in and around the Gir forest of western India — under nine hundred of them by the count of 2025. As a picture of strength, the lion appears in Jacob’s blessing, where Judah is called “a lion’s cub” (Genesis 49:9).
Key verses
Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything;My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken— who will not prophesy?Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Animals: Lion
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
