Topic
Wild Ox
13 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Numbers 23:22ISBE
God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
- Numbers 24:8ISBE
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 14:5ISBE
The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
- Deuteronomy 33:17ISBE
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 39:9ISBE
Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
- Job 39:9–12ISBE
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?…
- Job 39:10ISBE
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
- Psalms 22:21ISBE
Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
- Psalms 29:5ISBE
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
- Psalms 29:6ISBE
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
- Psalms 92:10ISBE
But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
- Isaiah 34:7ISBE
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.
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- Isaiah 51:20 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 38 references
(re'em): The word "unicorn" occurs in the King James Version in Nu 23:22; 24:8; De 33:17; Job 39:9,10; Ps 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa 34:7 (the King James Version margin "rhinoceros"). the Revised Version (British and American) has everywhere "wild-ox" (margin "ox-antelope," Nu 23:22). The Septuagint has monokeros, "one-horned," except in Isa 34:7, where we find hoi hadroi, "the large ones," "the bulky ones." In this passage also the Septuagint has hoi krioi, "the rams," instead of English Versions of the Bible "bullocks." Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has rhinoceros in Nu 23:22; 24:8; De 33:17; Job 39:9,10; and unicornis in Ps 22:21 (21:22); 29:6 (28:6); 92:10 (91:11); Isa 34:7.
As stated in the articles on ANTELOPE and CATTLE, re'em and te'o (De 14:5; Isa 51:20) may both be the Arabian oryx (Oryx beatrix), of which the common vernacular name means "wild-ox." It may be presumed that "ox-antelope" of Nu 23:22 the Revised Version margin is meant to indicate this animal, which is swift and fierce, and has a pair of very long, sharp and nearly straight horns. The writer feels, however, that more consideration should be given to the view of Tristram (Natural History of the Bible) that re'em is the urus or aurochs, the primitive Bos taurus, which seems to be depicted in Assyrian monuments and referred to as remu (BDB). The etymology of re'em is uncertain, but the word may be from a root signifying "to rise" or "to be high." At any rate, there is no etymological warrant for the assumption that it was a one-horned creature. The Arabic raim, is used of a light-colored gazelle. The great strength and fierceness implied in most of the references suit the wild-ox better than the oryx. On the other hand, Edom (Isa 34:7) was adjacent to the present home of the oryx, while there is no reason to suppose that the wild-ox came nearer than Northern Assyria. There is possibly a reference to the long horns of the oryx in "But my horn hast thou exalted like the horn of the wild-ox" (Ps 92:10). For te'o, The Septuagint has orux, in De 14:5 (but seutlion hemiephthon, "half-boiled beet" (!) in Isa 51:20). Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has oryx in both passages. While we admit that both re'em and te'o may be the oryx, it is perhaps best to follow the Revised Version margin, rendering re'em "wild-ox." The rendering of "antelope" (Revised Version) for te'o is defensible, but "oryx" would be better, because the oryx is the only antelope that could possibly be meant, it and the gazelle (tsebhi), already mentioned in De 14:5, being the only antelopes known to occur in Palestine and Arabia. In Isa 34:7 it seems to be implied that the re'em might be used in sacrifice.
Figurative: The wild-ox is used as a symbol of the strength of Israel: "He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox". (Nu 23:22; 24:8). In the blessing of the children of Israel by Moses it is said of Joseph:
"And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox:
With them he shall push the peoples all of them,
even the ends of the earth" (De 33:17).
The Psalmist (Ps 29:5,6) in describing the power of Yahweh says:
"Yea, Yahweh breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox."
Again, in praise for Yahweh's goodness (Ps 92:10): "But my horn hast thou exalted like the horn of the wildox."
In Job 39:9-12 the subduing and training of the wild-ox are cited among the things beyond man's power and understanding.
Alfred Ely Day
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.