Hebrew word · H1482

גּוּר

gur

whelp

Gur is the young of a predator: a cub or whelp of a lion (Genesis 49:9; Deuteronomy 33:22; Nahum 2:11–12; Ezekiel 19:2–3), and once of jackals (Lamentations 4:3). So a gur is a lion on its way to full strength.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

cub, whelp, young

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 49:9

Range of meaning

Gur is the young of a predator: a cub or whelp of a lion (Genesis 49:9; Deuteronomy 33:22; Nahum 2:11–12; Ezekiel 19:2–3), and once of jackals (Lamentations 4:3). Ezekiel 19 shows the stages: a lioness rears her gurim (cubs), one becomes a kephir (a young lion in its prime) and 'learns to tear prey'. So a gur is a lion on its way to full strength. Aryeh is the standard word for lion, used for the real animal and as a picture of overwhelming, fearsome power.

Against the English

KJV 'lion's whelp' and WEB/ESV/NASB 'lion's cub' are accurate. BSB/NLT 'young lion' is reasonable, but in English Bibles 'young lion' usually translates a different word (kephir), so readers who compare verses can be misled. To modern ears 'cub' can sound cuddly and harmless. In Hebrew it is a predator that will soon be full-grown.

How it drifted

English 'cub' now leans toward small and cute, partly because of how children's media portray animals. The Hebrew picture is a growing predator.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 33:22 calls Dan 'a lion's cub'. Nahum 2:11–12 pictures Nineveh, Assyria's capital, as a lion's den where the gur aryeh feeds without fear. Lions were the main symbol of royal power across the ancient Near East: Assyrian kings staged and depicted royal lion hunts, and Israelite seals carry lions (e.g. the Megiddo seal of 'Shema, servant of Jeroboam'). Brent Strawn's study of biblical lion imagery documents how widespread this was.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:9 גּ֤וּר [is] a cub of

    Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

    Here: A young lion still growing, before it reaches full size and strength (compare Ezekiel 19:2–3). Calling Judah a 'cub' marks him as a predator whose full power is still ahead of him.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 33:22 גּ֣וּר [is] a cub of

    Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.”

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 4:3 גּוּרֵיהֶ֑ן young their

    Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.

    Here: 'Their whelps', the young of a wild animal (often lion cubs). The ending -hen is feminine plural ('their', of females), even though 'jackals' is a masculine form. The grammar quietly makes clear that the poet means the mother jackals.

Ezekiel · 3

  1. Ezekiel 19:2 גוּרֶֽיהָ׃ cubs her

    and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.

  2. Ezekiel 19:3 מִגֻּרֶ֖יהָ of cubs her

    She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.

  3. Ezekiel 19:5 מִגֻּרֶ֖יהָ of cubs her

    When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 2:11 גּ֥וּר cub of

    Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.