“The lion shall lie down with the lamb”

The actual verse

Isaiah 11:6 (BSB):

The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.

The KJV (1769):

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.

What the paraphrase changes

The verse pairs four predatory–prey relationships:

• Wolf with lamb
• Leopard with goat (kid in KJV)
• Calf, young lion, and fatling together
• A little child leading them

The common paraphrase substitutes the lion for the wolf, producing a single image that is striking and memorable but not what the verse actually says. The lion in Isaiah 11:6 is paired with the calf, not the lamb.

The surrounding passage

The verse appears within Isaiah 11:1–9, a passage describing a future age. The full sequence (BSB):

6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest. 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Original language

The Hebrew word for “wolf” in 11:6 is ze’ev (זְאֵב). The word for “lion” is aryeh (אַרְיֵה). The two are not interchangeable in Hebrew, and every major English translation renders the verse with the wolf paired with the lamb.

Read on Bible1.org

Read the full chapter on our companion site: Isaiah 11 on Bible1.org → — BSB text in context, all verses.