Bible Strands
Isaiah 5:29
Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah pronounces this oracle against Judah and Jerusalem during a prophetic warning of imminent foreign invasion. The description appears within a judicial song that catalogs national corruption and details the approaching military assault.
The words — The Hebrew שְׁאָגָה (she'agah) translates literally as "roaring," while יִשְׁאַג (yišʿaḡ) means "it will roar." The text explicitly compares the invading army's sound to a lion and young lions to establish their predatory nature.
The thread — The imagery of inescapable capture and predatory sound appears in Isaiah 42:22 and Isaiah 49:24, which describe people trapped and plundered by the mighty. Micah 5:8 similarly uses lion imagery to depict a remnant's dominance among the nations.
Why it lands — The text states that the invaders will seize prey and carry it away so that no one can rescue it. This forces the reader to acknowledge the absolute finality of the coming judgment and the futility of human resistance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”
- Isaiah 49:24 Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?
- Micah 5:8 Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.
- Zechariah 11:3 Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
- Genesis 49:9 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?
- Numbers 24:9 He crouches, he lies down like a lion, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Isaiah 31:4 For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.
- Jeremiah 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.