While bears are not among the most mentioned animals in the Bible, you can still find a number of bear sightings in the Scriptures. Perhaps the most famous of these sightings in the Bible are the two beasts who came out of the woods and mauled forty-two boys that had mocked and made fun of Elisha (2 Kings 2:23-24). Bears are mentioned a total of fourteen times in the New International version of the Bible.
When A Bear Is Not A Bear
A majority of the time when you find the word bear in the Bible it is not referring to the animal. Instead, the word is found mostly among phrases such as “you will bear much fruit” and “more than you can now bear.” Neither is “The Bear” that is mentioned a couple of times in the Book of Job (Job 9:9, 38:32) talking about the animal. It is believed to be referring to the constellation known in astronomy as (The Great Bear).
The Bear Scriptures
(1 Samuel 17:34-35) But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
(1 Samuel 17:36) Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
(1 Samuel 17:37) The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
(2 Samuel 17:8) You know your father and his men; they are fighters, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Besides, your father is an experienced fighter; he will not spend the night with the troops.
(2 Kings 2:24) He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
(Proverbs 17:12) Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.
(Proverbs 28:15) Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
(Isaiah 11:7) The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
(Isaiah 59:11) We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.
(Lamentations 3:10) Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
(Hosea 13:8) Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion I will devour them– a wild animal will tear them apart.
(Amos 5:19) It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.
(Daniel 7:5) And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!
(Revelation 13:2) The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
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