Proverbs 30:30

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

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
lion	לַ֭יִשׁ La.yish	H3918	a lion (from his destructive blows) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
strongest	גִּבּ֣וֹר gi.Bor	H1368	powerful · noun, common masculine singular absolute
beasts	בַּבְּהֵמָ֑ה ba.be.he.Mah	H929	properly · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
away	יָ֝שׁ֗וּב ya.Shuv	H7725	to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
for	מִפְּנֵי mi.pe.nei-	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

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 d…
Judges 14:18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a l…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 30:29–end

Here is, I. An enumeration of four things which are majestic and stately in their going, which look great: - 1. A lion, the king of beasts, because strongest among beasts. Among beasts it is strength that gives the pre-eminence, but it is a pity that it should do so among men, whose wisdom is their honour, not their strength and force. The lion turns not away, nor alters his pace, for fear of any pursuers, since he knows he is too hard for them. Herein the righteous are bold as a lion, that they turn not away from their duty for fear of any difficulty they meet with in it. 2. A greyhound that is girt in the loins and fit for running; or (as the margin reads it) a horse, which ought not to be…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 30:28

spider--tolerated, even in palaces, to destroy flies. taketh . . . hands--or, uses with activity the limbs provided for taking prey.

John Gill on Proverbs 30:30

A lion, which is strongest among beasts,.... For what is stronger than a lion, or more courageous and undaunted? it walks with great majesty, very slowly, step by step, the left foot first; shaking its shoulders as it goes, as the philosopher (h) describes its going, and as here intended, and this without fear; and turneth not away for any; it does not go out of its way for any creature it meets with; nor does it hasten its pace when pursued, nor show the lest sign of fear; nor does it turn its back to any; which is observed and confirmed by Aristotle (i), Aelianus (k), Pliny (l), and other naturalists; particularly what Homer (m) and Virgil (n) say of this animal agrees with this account o…

Read the whole note in the console

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 30:29-31

Another numerical proverb with the cipher 4 = 3 + 1: 29 Three things are of stately walk, And four of stately going: 30 The lion, the hero among beasts, And that turneth back before nothing; 31 The swift-loined, also the goat; And a king with whom is the calling out of the host. Regarding היטיב with inf. following (the segolated n. actionis צעד is of equal force with an inf.), vid., under Pro 15:2. (Note: In 29a, after Norzi, מיטיבי, and in 29b, מיטבי, is to be written, and this is required by the little Masora to Sa1 25:31, the great, to Eze 33:33, and also the Erfurt little Masora to the passage before us.) The relation of the members of the sentence in 30a is like that in 25a and 26a: sub…

The Church Fathers

Christ is the lion: indeed all rational things are cattle in comparison with him. Moses, in fact, said, "I am a child." Because of its natural alacrity, the lion is said to walk unhindered.
— Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 30:25

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Agur — Gatherer; the collector, mentioned as author of the sayings in Prov. 30. Nothing is known of him beyond what is there recorded.
Lions — The most powerful of all carnivorous animals. Although not now found in Palestine, they must have been in ancient times very numerous there. They had their lairs in the forests (Jer. 5:6; 12:8; Amos…
Lion · Strength of — Strength of
Lion, The · Described as: Superior in strength — Described as: Superior in strength
Riddle · By Agur — By Agur

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 30:30

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 30:29–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 30:28

John Gill on Proverbs 30:30

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 30:29-31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 30:30

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 30:29–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 30:28

John Gill on Proverbs 30:30

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 30:29-31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 30:24-28

Rashi on Proverbs 30:29