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 5:29KJV
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Isaiah 5:29 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 5:29 mean?

Isaiah 5:29 pictures an attacking army as lions that seize prey and carry it away beyond rescue. The image stresses the danger facing the people of Judah: the attackers will be fierce, and no one will be able to take their victims from them.

Isaiah speaks of the approaching nation as a group of hunters. After the swift advance described in verse 28, the sounds of roaring give way to the capture and removal of prey. The people of Judah are pictured from the prey’s point of view.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 5:29

  • “young lions” — כְּפִיר (kefir): This word refers to a young lion. The image suggests a strong hunter, not a helpless cub.
  • “safe” — פָּלַט (palat): This word can mean to carry or bring something away to safety. Here, “safe” describes the attackers’ success in keeping their prey, not the safety of the people they seize.

Why Isaiah 5:29 matters

  • The attack is presented as part of God’s response to Judah’s conduct. Earlier in the passage, Isaiah says that God looked for justice but found violence (verse 7), and verse 26 describes him summoning a distant nation.
  • The repeated lion sounds build the scene through hearing as well as sight. “Roaring” and “roar” prepare the listener for the moment when the hunters “lay hold of the prey.”
  • The closing words make rescue the issue. “None shall deliver it” portrays the captured prey as being entirely in the attackers’ power.

Where else these words appear

“roar” Hebrew H5098 · used in 5 verses

  • Proverbs 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
  • Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
  • Isaiah 5:30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

“roaring” Hebrew H7581 · used in 7 verses

  • Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
  • Psalms 22:1 To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
  • Ezekiel 19:7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

“lion” Hebrew H3833 · used in 14 verses

  • 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?
  • Job 4:11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
  • Ezekiel 19:2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

“roar” Hebrew H7580 · used in 17 verses

  • 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.
  • Psalms 104:21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
  • 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.