the lion, the large predatory cat, used both for the animal itself and as a vivid image of overpowering strength.
Across the New Testament this word keeps its plain meaning, the lion, the strongest and most feared animal a first-century reader knew. What changes is what the lion is made to picture. Its physical traits do the work every time: the crushing mouth, the tearing teeth, the terrifying roar, the sheer strength.
Most often the lion stands for something dangerous. Peter warns that the devil prowls "like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8), and Paul says he "was rescued from the lion's mouth" (2 Timothy 4:17), a picture of deadly peril. The nightmarish creatures of Revelation borrow the lion's features to look fearsome, with teeth, faces, and mouths "like a lion" (Revelation 9:8, 9:17, 13:2).
But the very same strength can be royal rather than hostile. In Revelation 5:5 the Messiah is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," a title reaching back to Jacob's blessing over Judah (אַרְיֵה, Genesis 49:9). Here the lion is the conquering king, not the predator. The one plainly literal use is Hebrews 11:33, which recalls how faith "shut the mouths of lions" in Daniel's den.