A "lion"
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G3023 names a lion and appears in literal recollection, metaphor, comparison, and apocalyptic vision. 8, the devil is compared to a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, calling suffering believers to sober alertness and firm resistance in faith.
Reader summary
Full entry for λέων (G3023) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3023 names a lion and appears in literal recollection, metaphor, comparison, and apocalyptic vision. 8, the devil is compared to a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, calling suffering believers to sober alertness and firm resistance in faith.
The BSB source-word alignment has 9 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of lions (3), a lion (2), lion (2), of a lion (1), of the lion (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 2 Timothy 4:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (6), 1 Peter (1), 2 Timothy (1), Hebrews (1).
G3023 names a lion and appears in literal recollection, metaphor, comparison, and apocalyptic vision. In 1Pet. 5. 8, the devil is compared to a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, calling suffering believers to sober alertness and firm resistance in faith. In 2Tim. 4. 17, Paul says the Lord stood by and strengthened him for proclamation and delivered him from the lion's mouth, using danger language without naming its precise referent.
In Rev. 5. 5, an elder announces the victorious Lion from Judah, but John then sees a slain and standing Lamb. G3023 opens teaching on spiritual vigilance, the Lord's sustaining presence, and messianic victory interpreted through sacrifice. It does not make every threat demonic, guarantee rescue from martyrdom, or model Christian leadership on domination.
G3023 refers to lions, mouths or roars of lions, lion-like beings, the adversary's predatory threat, and the messianic Lion of Judah. Revelation's visual and auditory contrasts are especially important.
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Peter compares the devil to a roaring lion seeking prey and tells suffering believers to remain sober, alert, and firm in faith.
But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.
Paul testifies that the Lord stood by and strengthened him for full Gentile proclamation and delivered him from the lion's mouth.
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
The victorious Lion from Judah can open the scroll, and John's next sight of a slain Lamb reveals the form of that victory.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A lion represents both the threatening enemy devouring believers and the conquering Christ-figure in Revelation.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
9 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a lion
Read versea lion
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Read versea lion
Read versea lion
Read versea lion
Read versea lion
Read versea lion
Read versea lion
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 9 lexical occurrence verses.
λέων is a primary word - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3023 can name dangerous power, but the New Testament does not leave power uninterpreted. Peter's roaring lion comparison prepares believers for vigilant resistance to the devil amid suffering; it does not tell them to fear every difficulty as possession. Paul credits the Lord's presence and strength when human supporters fail, and his deliverance serves gospel proclamation.
Yet the same letter anticipates his death, so rescue from the lion's mouth is not a promise of endless physical escape. Revelation's elder announces Judah's Lion, and John sees a Lamb bearing slaughter marks while standing alive. The Messiah conquers, but His victory takes cruciform form and creates worship rather than imitation of beastly force. Churches resist the adversary through sober faith, solidarity, truthful witness, and hope in Christ.
They must not become lions that devour their own people while claiming to represent the Lion.
Rev.5.5
G3023 is a masculine Greek noun for lion. Genitive constructions such as lion's mouth can denote lethal danger, while comparison particles mark lion-like sounds or features and titles supply explicit symbolic force.
Judah's royal lion blessing, Daniel's lions, psalms of deliverance, and prophetic predator images form the background. Revelation centers that tradition in Jesus, whose royal conquest is inseparable from sacrificial death and resurrection.