LION: Biblically the Lion represents the tribe of Judah; "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?" Genesis 49:9Matteson shield

Symbolically, in heraldry the Lion is an emblem of majesty, strength,  justice, military strength, and deathless courage, a definite fierce foe to their enemy. French heraldry calls the passant lion a leopard; accordingly Napoleon said to his soldiers, "Let us drive these leopards (the English) into the sea."  In heraldry any Lion not rampant is often called a lion leopardé. 
Another tradition is that the Lion is the only animal of the cat tribe born with its eyes open, and it is said that it sleeps with its eyes open; although not completely true the Lion does sleep watchfully and lightly. 
The Lion in the arms of Scotland: Derived from the arms of the ancient Earls of Northumberland and Huntingdon, from whom some of the Scottish monarchs were descended. 
The Lions in the arms of England: Three Lions passant guardant, i.e. walking and showing their full face.  The first Lion was that of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, and the second represented the country of Maine, which was added to Normandy.  These were the two Lions borne by William the Conqueror and his descendants.  Henry II added a third Lion to represent the Duchy of Aquitaine, which came to him through his wife Eleanor. 
Commonly referred to as "the king of the beasts," it is a symbol of kingly power and might, but as the lioness it is commonly related to the Great Mother and to protection.


Male lions kill cubs other than their own

HEBREW REFERENCES TO THE LION
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?

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.

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.

Deuteronomy 33:20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a LION, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.

Deuteronomy 33:22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a LION's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.

Judges 14:5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young LION roared against him.

Judges 14:8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the LION: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the LION.

Judges 14:9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the LION.

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 LION? and he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.

1Samuel 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a LION, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

1Samuel 17:36 Thy servant slew both the LION and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

1Samuel 17:37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the LION, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

2Samuel 17:10 And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a LION, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

2Samuel 23:20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two LIONlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a LION in the midst of a pit in time of snow:

1Kings 13:24 And when he was gone, a LION met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the LION also stood by the carcase.

1Kings 13:25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the LION standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

1Kings 13:26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the LION, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.

1Kings 13:28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the LION standing by the carcase: the LION had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.

1Kings 20:36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a LION shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a LION found him, and slew him.

1Chronicles 11:22 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two LIONlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a LION in a pit in a snowy day.

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 10:16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce LION: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

Job 28:8 The LION's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce LION passed by it.

Job 38:39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the LION? or fill the appetite of the young LIONs,

Psalms 7:2 Lest he tear my soul like a LION, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

Psalms 10:9 He lieth in wait secretly as a LION in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

Psalms 17:12 Like as a LION that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young LION lurking in secret places.

Psalms 22:13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring LION.

Psalms 22:21 Save me from the LION's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Psalms 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the LION and adder: the young LION and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Proverbs 19:12 The king's wrath is as the roaring of a LION; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.

Proverbs 20:2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a LION: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.

Proverbs 22:13 The slothful man saith, There is a LION without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Proverbs 26:13 The slothful man saith, There is a LION in the way; a LION is in the streets.

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a LION.

Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring LION, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

Proverbs 30:30 A LION which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;

Ecclesiastes 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead LION.

Isaiah 5:29 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.

Isaiah 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young LION and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the LION shall eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 21:8 And he cried, A LION: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old LION, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

Isaiah 31:4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the LION and the young LION roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

Isaiah 35:9 No LION shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

Isaiah 38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a LION, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the LION shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying LION.

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.

Jeremiah 5:6 Wherefore a LION out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

Jeremiah 12:8 Mine heritage is unto me as a LION in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

Jeremiah 25:38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the LION: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, he shall come up like a LION from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, he shall come up like a LION from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Lamentations 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a LION in secret places.

Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a LION, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a LION, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 19:3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young LION, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

Ezekiel 19:5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young LION.

Ezekiel 19:6 And he went up and down among the LIONs, he became a young LION, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring LION ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

Ezekiel 32:2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young LION of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

Ezekiel 41:19 So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young LION toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about.

Daniel 7:4 The first was like a LION, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

Hosea 5:14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a LION, and as a young LION to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

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.

Hosea 13:7 Therefore I will be unto them as a LION: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:

Hosea 13:8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a LION: the wild beast shall tear them.

Joel 1:6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a LION, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great LION.

Amos 3:4 Will a LION roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young LION cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

Amos 3:8 The LION hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

Amos 3:12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the LION two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

Amos 5:19 As if a man did flee from a LION, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

Micah 5:8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a LION among the beasts of the forest, as a young LION among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

Nahum 2:11 Where is the dwelling of the LIONs, and the feedingplace of the young LIONs, where the LION, even the old LION, walked, and the LION's whelp, and none made them afraid?

Nahum 2:12 The LION did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his LIONesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

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