Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 4:11 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 11. 11The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 4:11 closes the thought unit with the words “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.” Eliphaz states “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad” as one poetic claim in Eliphaz States a Simple Sowing-and-Reaping Rule.
Read It With
- Job 4:7–4:11
Read Job 4:11 with 4:7–4:11. Read alone, “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Eliphaz argues from experience that the innocent do not perish while those who sow trouble reap destruction, illustrating the claim with broken lions.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Eliphaz continues from Job 4:1–4:6: Eliphaz recalls Job strengthening others, then suggests that Job's present collapse exposes the adequacy of his fear and integrity. Job 4:7–4:11 now develops the next distinct movement: Eliphaz argues from experience that the innocent do not perish while those who sow trouble reap destruction, illustrating the claim with broken lions. Within that relationship, Job 4:11 closes the thought unit through “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.”
Read Job 4:7–11 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 4:7–4:11 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Eliphaz States a Simple Sowing-and-Reaping Rule.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 7. 7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Verse 8. 8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
Verse 9. 9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Verse 10. 10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
Verse 11. 11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.
What Remains True
Eliphaz argues from experience that the innocent do not perish while those who sow trouble reap destruction, illustrating the claim with broken lions. Suffering or outward outcome is not evidence enough to diagnose guilt, hidden sin, divine rejection, or another person's moral standing. Job 4:11 carries that bounded truth through “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.”
How It Can Shape Life
- When hardship invites a moral theory, use Job 4:7–4:11 to separate observed facts from accusation, test claims against the prose frame and final verdict, and refuse to infer hidden guilt from suffering. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: The narrator has already called Job upright and his ruin causeless, so Eliphaz's formula is not narrator-approved proof that suffering reveals hidden sin. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 4:7–4:11 — Eliphaz States a Simple Sowing-and-Reaping RuleSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 4:7–4:11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 4:7–4:11
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 4:7–4:11.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 4:7–4:11
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗