Whelp - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

WHELP

hwelp (gur, or gor; either absol. (Eze 19:2,3,5; Nab 2:12); or constr. with 'aryeh, "lion" (Genesis 49:9; Deuteronomy 33:22; Jeremiah 51:38; Nahum 2:11); also benelabhi', literally, "sons of a lioness," translated "the whelps of the lioness" (Job 4:11). In Job 28:8, the King James Version has "lion's whelps" for bene shachats, which the Revised Version (British and American) renders "proud beasts," margin "sons of pride." In Lamentations 4:3 gur is used of the young of tannin the Revised Version (British and American) "jackal," the King James Version "sea-monsters," the King James Version margin "sea-calves"; it may possibly mean "wolves"; skumnos, the technical word for "lion's whelp" (1 Macc 3:4)):

These references are all figurative: "Judah is a lion's whelp" (Genesis 49:9); "Da is a lion's whelp" (Deuteronomy 33:22); it is said of the Babylonians, "They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps" (Jeremiah 51:38); of the Assyrians, "Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey, and his dens with ravin" (Nahum 2:11,12). In Ezekiel 19:2-9, the princes of Israel are compared to lions' whelps.

See DRAGON; LION.

Alfred Ely Day

Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'WHELP'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.