Bible Dictionary
WHELP
A whelp is a young animal, especially a lion’s cub. Scripture uses the image figuratively for powerful nations, rulers, and the strength or fierceness of a people.
Definition
A whelp is a young animal, especially a young lion. The term may also refer to the young of other creatures, while its figurative force commonly emphasizes strength, fierceness, and predatory power.
Biblical Usage
Judah and Dan are compared with lion’s whelps, and the princes of Israel are portrayed as young lions. Babylon and Assyria are likewise described through the imagery of roaring, feeding, and preying lions.
Historical Background
The biblical terms may denote a lion’s cub or the young of a lioness. In one passage the creature is translated jackal, sea-monster, sea-calf, or possibly wolf in different renderings.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>hwelp (gur, or gor; either absol. (Eze 19:2,3,5; Nab 2:12); or constr. with 'aryeh, "lion" (Ge 49:9; De 33:22; Jer 51:38; Na 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 La 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" (Ge 49:9); "Da is a lion's whelp" (De 33:22); it is said of the Babylonians, "They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps" (Jer 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" (Na 2:11,12). In Eze 19:2-9, the princes of Israel are compared to lions' whelps.</p><p>See DRAGON; LION.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>