גּוּר
gur (H1482)
whelp
AI Word Study
# Gur (גּוּר): A Young Animal in Ancient Hebrew The Hebrew word *gur* refers to a whelp—a young offspring of a carnivorous animal, particularly a lion or dog. Based on its seven biblical occurrences, this term appears in contexts where the youth and vulnerability of such animals are relevant to the narrative or metaphorical meaning. The word's limited frequency in the biblical text suggests it served a specific communicative purpose rather than being a common everyday term. When biblical writers chose *gur* over other animal terminology, they were likely emphasizing the immaturity or dependent status of the creature in question. This semantic focus makes the word particularly useful in contexts involving comparison or contrast—such as describing predatory animals in their early stages or using them as figurative language for human situations. The presence of *gur* in only seven biblical passages indicates it occupied a modest but defined place in Hebrew vocabulary. Its specificity to young carnivores distinguishes it from broader animal terminology, suggesting ancient Hebrew speakers had precise lexical tools for describing life stages and animal types when such distinctions mattered to their message.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
About Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps out of Bashan.”
Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.
“ ‘Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.
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 cubs, and no one made them afraid?