Lion

Few animals fill the Bible like the lion. The Psalms and prophets use it for danger: an enemy who “lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den” (Psalm 10:9), or a king whose wrath is “as the roaring of a lion” (Proverbs 19:12). Daniel spends a night among lions, and in the morning he says, “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths” (Daniel 6:22). The same animal can mean strength: Jacob blesses Judah as “a lion’s whelp” (Genesis 49:9). In Revelation 5:5, one of the elders points to “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” who has prevailed to open the scroll.

37 verses

Genesis

Genesis 49:9

Judah 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

Job 4:10

The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

Job 28:8

The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

Psalms

Psalms 7:2

Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

Psalms 10:9

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

Psalms 17:12

Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

Psalms 22:13

They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

Proverbs

Proverbs 19:12

The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.

Proverbs 22:13

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Proverbs 30:30

A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;

Isaiah

Isaiah 38:13

I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 2:15

The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 4:7

The 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.

Jeremiah 5:6

Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

Jeremiah 49:19

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Jeremiah 50:17

Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

Jeremiah 50:44

Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Lamentations

Lamentations 3:10

He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 1:10

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 10:14

And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Daniel

Daniel 6:16

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

Daniel 6:17

And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

Daniel 6:18

Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

Daniel 6:19

Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

Daniel 6:20

And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

Daniel 6:21

Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.

Daniel 6:22

My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

Daniel 6:23

Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

Daniel 6:24

And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

Daniel 7:4

The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

Daniel 7:12

As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

Amos

Amos 3:4

Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

Revelation

Revelation 4:7

And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

Revelation 5:5

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Revelation 9:8

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

Revelation 9:17

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

Revelation 13:2

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

"The most powerful, daring and impressive of all carnivorous animals, the most magnificent in aspect and awful in voice." At present lions do not exist in Palestine; but they must in ancient times have been numerous. The lion of Palestine was in all probability the Asiatic variety, described by Aristotle and Pliny as distinguished by its short and curly mane, and by being shorter and rounder in shape, like the sculptured lion found at Arban. It was less daring than the longer named species, but when driven by hunger it not only ventured to attack the flocks in the desert in presence of the shepherd, (1 Samuel 17:34; Isaiah 31:4) but laid waste towns and villages, (2 Kings 17:25,26; Proverbs 22:13; 26:13) and devoured men. (1 Kings 13:24; 20:36) Among the Hebrews, and throughout the Old Testament, the lion was the achievement of the princely tribe of Judah, while in the closing book of the canon it received a deeper significance as the emblem of him who "prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof." (Revelation 5:5) On the other hand its fierceness and cruelty rendered it an appropriate metaphor for a fierce and malignant enemy. (Psalms 7:2; 22:21; 57:4; 2 Timothy 4:17) and hence for the arch-fiend himself. (1 Peter 5:8)

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.