Unicorn
From Textus Receptus
Unicorn in the King James Version is not a mythical creature as many have falsely assumed, but is most probably a Rhinoceros (or a similar creature) as stated in the margin of the original 1611 King James Bible in Isaiah 34:7 where it reads: “And the unicorns shall come down with them.” In the margin it says; "or Rhinocerots" which was the exact term for the Rhinoceros in 1611, derived from the Latin unicornis and the Greek monokeros, both meaning one-horned, and both referring emphatically to the Rhinoceros.
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Indian Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros Unicornis is the scientific name for the Indian Rhinoceros or the Great One-horned Rhinoceros or the Asian One-horned Rhinoceros which is is a large mammal found in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and in Assam, India. It is confined to the tall grasslands and forests in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Indian Rhinoceros can run at speeds of up to 25 mph (40 km/h) for short periods of time and is also an excellent swimmer. It has excellent senses of hearing and smell, but relatively poor eyesight.
Elasmotherium
The now extinct Elasmotherium (Elasmotherium sibiricum), "Giant Unicorn", had many features of a modern rhinoceros except it grew up up 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) high and 6 metres (20 ft) long and was very woolly. The animal may have weighed up to 7 tonnes (7.7 short tons). Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were designed for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait. It was probably a fast runner, in spite of its size. Its teeth were similar to those of horses, and it probably grazed low herbs.
While many evolutionists parrot Darwins false claims that man did not walk with dinosaurs, the bible and archaeology easily disprove this.
Karkadann
Another similar option is the the Karkadann (English: Rhinoceros, Persian: كرگدن "Lord of the Desert") which was a mythical unicorn-like creature said to live on the grassy plains of India, Persia and North Africa. The creature was quite similar to a rhinoceros. Upon its horn was an engraving with the head of a man.
Ibn Battuta in his travelogue, calls the rhinoceros he saw in India karkadann. The karkadann was an extremely ferocious beast, driving away from its territory animals as big as the elephant. It is said it would fight an elephant and kill it. It would then hoist it above its head in triumph using its horn, before going blind as the elephant's fat flowed into its eyes as it melted in the sun.
The name karkadann is a variation of the Sanskrit kartajan, which means "lord of the desert". Other spellings and pronunciations include karkadan, kargadan, karmadan, and Cartazoon.
Unicorn in the KJV
The Word Unicorn(s) appears 6 times in the KJV:
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.
Besides the King James Version the following also use the word Unicorn or a foreign language equivilant.
Jerome in the 4th century translated the Hebrew word Reem as Rhinocerotis five times and Unicornis four times. Jerome studied Hebrew under the Jews before he began his translation of the OT, thus it is from the Jews directly that Jerome derived his definitions.
Numbers 24:8
Unicorn
- 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. (KJV)
Ox
Correct Definitions
Daniel Webster’s Dictionary of 1828
- n. L. unicornis; unus, one, and cornu, horn.]
- 1. an animal with one horn; the monoceros. this name is often applied to the rhinoceros.
- 2. The sea unicorn is a fish of the whale kind, called narwal, remarkable for a horn growing out at his nose.
- 3. A fowl. fossil unicorn, or fossil unicorn's horn, a substance used in medicine, a terrene crustaceous spar.
Pliny the Elder (First century AD)
- “an exceedingly wild beast called the Monoceros (one - horned)...It makes a deep lowing noise, and one black horn two cubits long projects from the middle of its forehead. This animal, they say, cannot be taken alive.”
Aristotle
- “I have found that wild asses as large as horses are to be found in India. It has a horn on the brow, about one cubit and a half in length..”
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- "The Reem, most probably denotes the Rhinoceros, so called from the horn on its nose. In size he is only exceeded by the elephant; and in strength and power inferior to none. He is at least twelve feet in length, from the snout to the tail; six or seven feet in height; and the circumference of the body is nearly equal to his length. He is particularly distinguished from all other animals by the remarkable and offensive weapon he carries on his nose; which is very hard horn, solid throughout, directed forward."
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- "Israel is not as they were at the Exodus, a horde of poor, feeble, spiritless people, but powerful and invincible as a Reem - that is, a Rhinoceros."
Wesley's Notes
- Numbers 23:22 Out of Egypt - Namely, by a strong hand, and in spite of all their enemies, and therefore it is in vain to seek or hope to overcome them. He - Israel, whom God brought out of Egypt, such change of numbers being very common in the Hebrew language. The sense is, Israel is not now what he was in Egypt, a poor, weak, dispirited, unarmed people, but high and strong and invincible. An unicorn - The word may mean either a rhinoceros, or a strong and fierce kind of wild goat. But such a creature as an unicorn, as commonly painted, has no existence in nature.
Incorrect Definitions
Defined King James Bible
The Defined King James Bible by D. A. Waite, included in its note concerning "unicorns" at Deuteronomy 33:17 the following:
- "Heb probably the great aurochs or wild bulls which are now extinct" (p. 315).
Waite quotes the O.E.D. p. 3512 definition 1.b. Used in Middle English versions of the OT. to render the Vulgate unicornis or rhinoceros (Gr. monoceros) and retained in various later versions. Waite adds this note at Deuteronomy 33:17; The exact meaning is not known. (This quote may be from an old version of the DKJB)
Trinitarian Bible Society
The Trinitarian Bible Society has published "A Bible Word List" which "gives brief explanations of words in the Authorised Version describing unfamiliar objects, animals and plants, weights, measures and money, and words no longer in everyday use, or now used with a different meaning." Under Unicorn it has:
- unicorn* – wild bull: Nu. 23.22; Job 39.10
Strong's Concordance
- or rieym {reh-ame'}; or reym {rame}; or rem {rame}; from 'ra'am' (7213); a wild bull (from its conspicuousness):--unicorn.
Easton's Bible Dictionary
- Described as an animal of great ferocity and strength (Numbers 23:22, R.V., "wild ox, " marg., "ox-antelope;24:8; Isaiah 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 (Galatians 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. Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalm 22:21; 29:6; 92:10).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
- u'-ni-korn (re'em (Numbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8 Deuteronomy 33:17 Job 39:9, 10 Psalm 22:21; Psalm 29:6; Psalm 92:10 Isaiah 34:7)): "Unicorn" occurs in the King James Version in the passages cited, where the Revised Version (British and American) has "wild-ox" (which see).
Henry Morris
- “The Hebrew word translated unicorn is believed by most Hebrew scholars to refer to the huge and fierce aurochs, or wild ox now extinct.”
W. L. Alexander (Pulpit Commentary)
- “the reem is supposed to be the aurochs, an animal of the bovine species, allied to the buffalo, now extinct.”
Charles Spurgeon
- “The unicorn may have been some gigantic ox or buffalo now unknown and perhaps extinct.”
William Houghon
- “we think that there can be no doubt that some species of wild ox is intended.”
Scofield Reference Notes
for Numbers 23:22 Margin “unicorn i.e. the aurochs, or wild ox.”
Jay P. Green
Jay P. Green's A CONCISE LEXICON TO THE BIBLICAL LANGUAGES gave the meaning of this Hebrew word as "wild ox" (p. 213).
Foreign Language
The Spanish RV 1909, has "unicorn" in Deuteronomy 14:5 where the KJV has "Pygarg". All 9 other verses above also have unicorns in the Spanish RV 1909.
External Links
- Unicorns by Will Kinney
- “Unicorn” or “Wild oxen” in Numbers 23:22 et al.? by KJV Today
- Unicorns in the Bible by Answers in Genesis
- Wikipedia article on the Indian Rhinoceros
- Wikipedia article on Rhinoceros
Critical of the KJV
- Mythological and Mysterious Creatures in the KJV Unicorns by Brian Tegart
- Unicorns and the KJV by Rick Norris
- The Unicorn: the Bible does not refer to fantasy creatures by Creation Ministries International
- Why I Believe in Unicorns Video explains that the use of Unicorn is correct, but fails to mention the generalizing use of the singular noun, in which case a singular noun could give the sense of the plural
