JOB 39:9-12 unicorn?

Vasco,

The "Oxford English Dicitonary" gives "rhinoceros" as one of the definitions of the term "unicorn" and I suppose that is what the KJV translators had in mind.

One thing I can say for sure, whatever animal the Lord had in mind it was certainly not mythical and Job knew full well what He was talking about.

Mark Osgatharp

 

Hi!

Unicorn? "Uni" means "one" (as in "united"), and "corn" means "horn" (as in "cornet", a kind of brass instrument). So "unicorn" means "one horn". Thus anything with one horn will do. I read that there is a kind of rino that has just one horn, so it could be that. I also read that it is also possible to remove the buds from which cattle's horns grow, and that it was sometimes the practice to remove one, and move the other to the middle of the head to ensure victory when the males fought at mating season (not sure how that would work, but I'm just telling you what I read).

But what about the traditional idea of a unicorn? Well, there have been many recorded sightings of such animals! Just because dinosaurs aren't alive today (or are they???), doesn't mean they didn't exist once. Could that not be the case with the unicorn? It strikes me that modern man is very arrogant, and assumes that because something isn't seen today, then historical records must be myths. So, I don't know for sure what the unicorn was - only that it must have had one horn! And those who want to correct the Authorised King James Version on this basis should remember that the people who translated it were greater scholars than any translation committee around now.

Your friend and brother,

Bartholomew

 

17th century Europe basically believed in traditional unicorns (horses with a long, single horn). Unicorn horns are listed in several royal and religious inventories, including Queen Elizabeth I, King James, and even the Vatican. Some of these unicorn horns are now on display in museums in Europe, but have been tested and determined to actually be narwhal tusks.

Deut 33:17 (in the KJV) says "the horns of unicorns". However, in the Hebrew, "horns" is plural, but the creature mentioned is *singular* - which is an interested twist to the issue.

 

The word the King James translators translated as unicorn is rem, or reym, which is admitted by the Strong's Concordance to mean "wild bull" from the root raam, which means to 'be lifted up.' Where the KJV folk picked up 'unicorn' from this is really anyone's guess from what I understand. The word is used only nine times in the Bible. Here they are as the KJV and the NIV and the NASB variously translate them:

1) Numbers 23:22
KJV: God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

NIV: God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.

NASB: God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.

2) Numbers 24:8
KJV: 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.

NIV: God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.

NASB: God brings him out of Egypt,
He is for him like the horns of the wild ox.
He shall devour the nations [who are] his adversaries,
And shall crush their bones in pieces,
And shatter [them] with his arrows.

3) Deuteronomy 33:17
KJV: 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.

NIV: In majesty he is like a firstborn bull;
his horns are the horns of a wild ox.
With them he will gore the nations,
even those at the ends of the earth.
Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim;
such are the thousands of Manasseh.

NASB: As the first-born of his ox, majesty is his,
And his horns are the nors of the wild ox;
With them he shall push the peoples,
All at once, [to] the ends of the earth.
And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.

4 & 5) Job 39:9-10
KJV: Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by the crib?
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will be harrow the valleys after thee?

NIV: Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will he stay by your manger at night?
Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?
Will he till the valleys behind you?

NASB: Will the wild ox consent to serve you:
Or will he spend the night at your manger?
Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes?
Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

6) Psalm 22:21
KJV: Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

NIV: Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

NASB: Save me from the lion's mouth;
And from the horns of the wild oxen Thou dost answer me.

7) Psalm 29:6
KJV: He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.

NIV: He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.

NASB: And He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion like a young wild ox.

8) Psalm 92:10
KJV: But my horn shalt thou exalt like [the horn of] an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

NIV: You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
fine oils have been poured upon me.

NASB: But Thou has exalted my horn lik [that of] the wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.

9) Isaiah 34:7
KJV: 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.

NIV: And the wild oxen will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood,
and the dust will be soaked with fat.

NASB: Wild oxen shall also fall with them,
And young bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land shall be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.

 

Hi helen, ya beat me to it. Why the KJV authors chose "unicorn" for the Hebrew word "rem" is beyond me. Looks like the more accurate definition is a wild bull or untamed ox.