Q and A

Q and A

By Amy Gentry

 

Q: Are unicorns in the Bible?

A: Yes!  I have found references to unicorns 8-9 times in the Bible, but only in the King James Version.  In the American Standard Version the same word ‘unicorn’ is “wild ox.”

• "God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn." (Numbers 23:22)
• "God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn." (Numbers 24:8)
• "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." (Deut. 33:17)
• "Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?" (Job 39:9-12)
• "Save me from the lion's mouth; for thou hast heard me from the horns of unicorns." (Psalm 22:21)
• "He maketh them [the cedars of Lebanon] also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn." (Psalm 29:6)
• "But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of the unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil." (Psalm 92:10)
• "And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with their bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness." (Isaiah 34:7)

I know the idea of mystical unicorns that run wild with glitter floating from their backs and sliding down rainbows is beautiful, but I’m afraid that those are the images of legend.  Many historians believe that the unicorns from time of the Bible were wild, single horned oxen.  More like this image:

  

Not nearly as mystical, but a unicorn all the same.