SAYINGS NOT IN BIBLE "The Lion shall lay with the Lamb"

Ever heard this expression before? The Lion shall lay with the Lamb.

Really? Is that so?

Problem number one: The Bible says no such thing. Search the Bible through and through, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation and you will never find where it says the lion will lay with the lamb.

It simply is not there.

How did this tradition get started? Well, we don't know for certain, but many years ago a man by the name of Thomas A. Dorsey wrote a song titled "Peace In The Valley". It has been sung by many popular worldly singers including, Red Foley, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, , George Jones, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn, to name a few.

Part of this song says:

There will be peace in the valley for me, some day.
There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray.
There'll be no sadness, no sorrow,
No trouble, trouble I see.
There will be peace in the valley for me, for me.

Well the bear will be gentle,
And the wolves will be tame.
And the lion shall lay down by the lamb, oh yes.
And the beasts from the wild,
Shall be lead by a child.
And I'll be changed, changed from this creature that I am, oh yes.

The closest thing to this expression in the Bible is found in Isaiah 11:6 where it says: "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."

Nothing at all about a lion laying down with a lamb!

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 65:25
"The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

As you can see, the lamb is both times paired with the wolf and the lion is paired with a beast of burden (once with calves and another with the ox). Still, the meaning behind the imagery is not really done damage by switching the juxtaposition to include lions and lambs. One can see with little trouble how the image became as widely popular as it has. Not only is the image made more dramatic by replacing the wolf with the lion, but there is already some precedent for the comparison if one considers the lion/lamb imagery keyed in Revelation 5.