WHELP (בֵּנ֒, H1201, a son; גּוּר֩, H1594, a whelp). Although a whelp is a puppy or a cub of a lioness, the term is used mainly in a fig. sense in the Scriptures. Eliphaz mentions lion’s whelps scattered because the old lion lacks prey (Job 4:11).

Babylon will growl like lion’s whelps during her destruction (Jer 51:38) and Nineveh be a desolation where the lion tore enough for his whelps who live in dens (Nah 2:11, 12). Jacob prophesied, “Judah is a lion’s whelp” (Gen 49:9), the same compliment that Moses gave Dan (Deut 33:22); and Ezekiel echoes that the princes of Israel were lion’s whelps caught in pits and snares (Ezek 19:2, 3, 5). (See Lion.)