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 11:7KJV
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Isaiah 11:7 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 11:7 mean?

Isaiah 11:7 pictures a world where the usual divide between animals that hunt and animals they might hunt has given way to peace. Cows and bears share feeding grounds, their young rest side by side, and a lion eats the same kind of food as an ox.

The verse adds an ordinary scene of feeding and resting to the animal picture begun in verse 6. Young animals lying down together make the scene especially striking: even those that might seem vulnerable are at rest beside one another.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 11:7

  • “feed” — רָעָה (raʿah): The word can carry the sense of grazing or feeding in a pasture. Here, the cow and bear are pictured sharing a feeding place rather than meeting as prey and hunter.
  • “straw” — תֶּבֶן (teven): The word refers to chopped straw used as animal fodder. The lion is pictured eating the kind of feed associated with an ox, not merely resting near one.

Why Isaiah 11:7 matters

  • The peace in Isaiah’s picture reaches beyond human society. The passage first describes a ruler who judges the poor fairly (Isaiah 11:4), then pictures animals living without their usual threats.
  • The shared rest of the young makes the picture more than a momentary pause. The words “their young ones shall lie down together” place the next generation within the same peaceful scene.

Where else these words appear

“bear” Hebrew H1677 · used in 12 verses

  • 1 Samuel 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:
  • 2 Samuel 17:8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
  • Isaiah 59:11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

“straw” Hebrew H8401 · used in 16 verses

  • Genesis 24:25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
  • Exodus 5:12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
  • 1 Kings 4:28 Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

“cow” Hebrew H6510 · used in 22 verses

  • Genesis 32:15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
  • Genesis 41:26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
  • 1 Samuel 6:7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them:

“down” Hebrew H7257 · used in 30 verses

  • Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
  • Deuteronomy 33:13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
  • Isaiah 27:10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.