24

Samson’s Lion

I

The lion that on Samson roar’d,
And thirsted for his blood,
With honey afterwards was stored,
And furnish’d him with food.

II

Believers as they pass along
With many lions meet,
But gather sweetness from the strong,
And from the eater meat.

III

The lions rage and roar in vain,
For Jesus is their shield:
Their losses prove a certain gain,
Their troubles comfort yield.

IV

The world and Satan join their strength,
To fill their souls with fears;
But crops of joy they reap at length
From what they sow in tears.

V

Afflictions make them love the word,
Stir up their hearts to prayer,
And many precious proofs afford
Of their Redeemer’s care.

VI

The lions roar but cannot kill;
Then fear them not, my friends;
They bring us, though against their will,
The honey Jesus sends.

Where this text comes from

First published in Olney Hymns (1779). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1] [2] [3]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-15.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns, book-1.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (2)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L24.

Cite this poem

John Newton (1725–1807). “Samson’s Lion.” First published in Olney Hymns (1779). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/john-newton/samsons-lion/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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