I know, sounds a bit weird, but I recalled reading some scriptures in the King James Version (the old one) that had the word unicorn. They were Old Testament scriptures, and I rememeber when I first read them when I was a kid, someone told me that it meant goat?
Well, I guess my reading the book Black by Ted Dekker, with his fantastical/sci-fi world, made me think about those unicorn Old Testament scriptures again. I went onto Bible.com and looked up the old/original King James version for the word unicorn. Here are the scriptures it lists:
Numbers 23:22
God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
Numbers 24:8
God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
Deuteronomy 33:17
His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Job 39:9
Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Job 39:10
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
Psalm 22:21
Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Psalm 29:6
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
Psalm 92:10
But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
Isaiah 34:7
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
I then went into dictionary.com and looked up unicorn. I’ll copy and paste the definition below, however, I’d like to point out that I’m still wondering why the word unicorn was used in the first place since they are not talking of the mythical creature. It appears they were talking about a rhino or a wild ox, so I would have just called it a rhino or a wild ox when doing the translation. However, perhaps, at the time, the unicorn didn’t carry the same meaning as it does today, as far as animals are concerned? I’m no Biblical scholar, so it’s hard for me to give any insight on this matter. Here’s what dictionary.com had to say as far as what a unicorn means in the Bible:
4. an animal mentioned in the Bible, Deut. 33:17: now believed by some to be a description of a wild ox or rhinoceros.
Online Etymology Dictionary – unicorn
c.1225, from O.Fr. unicorne, from L.L. unicornus (Vulgate), from noun use of L. unicornis (adj.) “having one horn,” from uni- “one” (see uni-) + cornus “horn” (see horn). The L.L. word translates Gk. monoceros, itself rendering Heb. re’em, which was probably a kind of wild ox. According to Pliny, a creature with a horse’s body, deer’s head, elephant’s feet, lion’s tail, and one black horn two cubits long projecting from its forehead. Cf. Ger. Einhorn, Welsh ungorn, Bret. uncorn, O.C.S. ino-rogu.
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary – Unicorn
described as an animal of great ferocity and strength (Num. 23:22, R.V., “wild ox,” marg., “ox-antelope;” 24:8; Isa. 34:7, R.V., “wild oxen”), and untamable (Job 39:9). It was in reality a two-horned animal; but the exact reference of the word so rendered (reem) is doubtful. Some have supposed it to be the buffalo; others, the white antelope, called by the Arabs rim. Most probably, however, the word denotes the Bos primigenius (“primitive ox”), which is now extinct all over the world. This was the auerochs of the Germans, and the urus described by Caesar (Gal. Bel., vi.28) as inhabiting the Hercynian forest. The word thus rendered has been found in an Assyrian inscription written over the wild ox or bison, which some also suppose to be the animal intended (comp. Deut. 33:17; Ps. 22:21; 29:6; 92:10).
I believe the Original King James Version was the only one using the word unicorn, however, there may be other versions using it that I’m not aware of. Just thought it was interesting.
I’m almost finished with Black. I’ll be posting a review about sometime this week, probably.
Cecelia Dowdy
