Job 4 · Verse 11

Job 4:11

The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
Job 4:11, King James Version

Job 4:11 in other translations

BSBThe old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
WEBThe old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
ASVThe old lion perisheth for lack of prey, And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
YLTAn old lion is perishing without prey, And the whelps of the lioness do separate.
DARBYThe old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
BBEThe old lion comes to his end for need of food, and the young of the she-lion go wandering in all directions.
WebsterThe old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

What does Job 4:11 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 4:10-11

10-11. lion--that is, wicked men, upon whom Eliphaz wished to show that calamities come in spite of their various resources, just as destruction comes on the lion in spite of his strength (Psa 58:6; 2Ti 4:17). Five different Hebrew terms here occur for "lion." The raging of the lion (the tearer), and the roaring of the bellowing lion and the teeth of the young lions, not whelps, but grown up enough to hunt for prey…

Read the full comment on Job 4:10-11 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 The old lion perisheth - In this and the preceding verse the word lion occurs five times; and in the original the words are all different: - 1. אריה aryeh, from ארה arah, to tear off. 2. שחל shachal, which as it appears to signify black or dark, may mean the black lion, which is said to be found in Ethiopia and India. 3. כפיר kephir, a young lion, from כפר caphar, to cover, because he is said to hide himself in order to surprise his prey, which the old one does not. 4. ליש lavish, from לש lash, to knead, trample upon; because of his method of seizing his prey. 5. לביא labi, from לבא laba, to suckle with the first milk; a lioness giving suck; at which time they are peculiarly fierce. All these words may point out some quality of the lion; and this was probably the cause why they were originally given: but it is likely that, in process of time, they served only to designate the beast, without any particular reference to any of his properties. We have one and the same idea when we say the lion, the king of beasts, the monarch of the forest, the most noble of quadrupeds, etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 4:7-11

Eliphaz argues, 1. That good men were never thus ruined. But there is one event both to the righteous and to the wicked, Ec 9:2, both in life and death; the great and certain difference is after death. Our worst mistakes are occasioned by drawing wrong views from undeniable truths. 2. That wicked men were often thus ruined: for the proof of this, Eliphaz vouches his own observation. We may see the same every day.

Read the full comment on Job 4:7-11 →

Job 4:11 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לַ֭יִשׁLa.yisha lionH3918
אֹבֵ֣ד'o.Ved[is] perishingH6
מִבְּלִי\־mi.be.li-because notH1097
טָ֑רֶףTa.refpreyH2964
וּבְנֵ֥יu.ve.Neiand [the] young ofH1121
לָ֝בִ֗יאla.Vi'a lionH3833
יִתְפָּרָֽדוּ\׃yit.pa.Ra.duthey are scatteredH6504

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 4:11

  • Psalms 34:10

    The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

  • Job 38:39

    Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

  • Job 8:3-4

    Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

  • Job 1:19

    And, 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.

  • 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.

  • Psalms 7:2

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

  • Numbers 24:9

    He 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.

  • Hosea 11:10

    They shall walk after the Lord: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

  • Numbers 23:24

    Behold, 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 27:14-15

    If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

  • 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?

  • 2 Timothy 4:17

    Notwithstanding 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
old lion.
38:39; Ge 49:9; Nu 23:24; 24:9; Ps 7:2; Jer 4:7; Ho 11:10; 2Ti 4:17
perisheth.
Ps 34:10
the stout.
1:19; 8:3,4; 27:14,15

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 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 4:11

    The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

  • Job 4:12

    Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.

Read all of Job 4

Job 4:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El león viejo perece por falta de presa, y los hijos del león son esparcidos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Le lion fort périt faute de proie, et les petits de la lionne sont dispersés.
German
Elberfelder 1871		der Löwe kommt um aus Mangel an Raub, und die Jungen der Löwin werden zerstreut.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet prædam, et catuli leonis dissipati sunt.