Hebrew word · H3918

לַ֫יִשׁ

layish

lion

Lion. It is one of several Hebrew lion words: ʾărî/ʾaryēh, the ordinary word; kĕpîr, a young lion in its prime; lābîʾ/lĕbîyāʾ, often 'lioness'; šaḥal, a poetic word; and layish. Layish is rare and poetic, found only in Job 4:11, Isaiah 30:6 and here.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

lion

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 30:30

Range of meaning

Lion. It is one of several Hebrew lion words: ʾărî/ʾaryēh, the ordinary word; kĕpîr, a young lion in its prime; lābîʾ/lĕbîyāʾ, often 'lioness'; šaḥal, a poetic word; and layish. Layish is rare and poetic, found only in Job 4:11, Isaiah 30:6 and here. It also occurs as a place name (Laish, the later Dan, Judg 18:7, 29) and a personal name (1 Sam 25:44).

Against the English

Most versions simply say "lion". YLT and the KJV of Job 4:11 and Isa 30:6 say "old lion". That follows older Jewish and Renaissance lexical tradition, which tried to tell the many lion words apart by age. The Hebrew word itself gives no hint of age.

How it drifted

No real drift. The "old lion" rendering is a lexical guess, not a meaning the word clearly carries.

Used elsewhere in the period

Cognates are Akkadian nēšu, 'lion', and Arabic layth, 'lion', which supports the plain meaning. In Job 4:11 the layish "perishes for lack of prey", which shows it is a full-grown predator. In Isa 30:6 it appears alongside the lioness in the dangerous Negev. The Septuagint here renders it skymnos leontos, 'lion's whelp'.

Similar words

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 4:11 לַ֭יִשׁ a lion

    The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 30:30 לַ֭יִשׁ a lion

    a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything;

    Here: A rare poetic word for lion, used only here, in Job 4:11 and in Isaiah 30:6. It opens the list of four creatures that move with a stately walk and stands as the image of fearless strength.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 30:6 וָלַ֣יִשׁ and lion

    This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.

    Here: Another rare poetic word for lion (also Job 4:11; Prov 30:30). Using two lion words means 'lions of every kind'. It is not a claim about the animals' ages, despite KJV's 'young and old lion'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.