This was a little gem "Bonni Hall" (bonni@prairienet.org) posted onto NetNews some time ago. Just goes to show the dangers of taking the Bible literally, especially a particular translation.

I've been working for some time to try to figure out something about the KJV Bible and the Hebrew word, re'em. This word appears nine times in the Hebrew OT, and is translated in the KJV as "unicorn" or "unicorns." Every other English version translates the word as "ox" or "wild ox" and by context, "ox" makes perfect sense).

My question then, is this: Why did the KJV translators render the word not as "ox" but as "unicorn?"

Personally I've got no idea, but if one were to take a literal reading of the KJV then it proves that unicorns exist. I went and hunted up the verses and this is what I found:

Job 39:9-12 "Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee? .. Canst thou bind the unicorn...? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great...? Wilt thou believe him ...?"

Numbers 23:22, 24:8 likens God's strength to that of a unicorn.

Deut 33:17 (of God) "..his horns are like the horns of unicorns, with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth."

Ps 92:10 "But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn."

Hmmm.... curious. An interesting collection of attributes the old unicorn has. Nothing about virgins though, but then that's a mediaeval invention. Personally I much prefer the passage in Proverbs that describes God as a dragon, but that's another tale.

Return to my home page