A young lion, tiger, or other predatory animal β used as a metaphor for fierce tribal and royal strength.
The Hebrew gur (distinct from H1481 gur, 'to sojourn') means a whelp or cub β specifically a young lion or other powerful beast. It appears most famously in Jacob's blessing on Judah: 'Judah is a lion's cub (gur aryeh), O my son' (Genesis 49:9). This prophetic blessing identifies Judah with the lion β fierce, kingly, ultimately Messianic. The same image recurs in Deuteronomy 33:22 (Dan is a lion's cub) and Nahum 2:11-12 (Nineveh as a den of lions).
The gur aryeh of Genesis 49:9 launches one of the most consequential Messianic prophecies in the OT. Jacob sees Judah not merely as a tribe but as the line through which the kingly ruler will come: 'The scepter will not depart from Judah...until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his' (Genesis 49:10). This finds its fulfillment in Revelation 5:5 where the Lion of the tribe of Judah is identified as the Lamb who was slain β power and sacrifice united in one Person.