Is also indicative of a unicorn’s powerful and dangerous nature, as here the great creatures are being humbled by man, alongside the bulls – perhaps the most feared of our agricultural animals. In Isaiah 34:7, the quote “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,” Clearly, God’s strength is being likened to theirs in the defense of his people. The phrase from Numbers 24:8, “God brought them 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,”Ĭould easily apply to rhinos, since they are extremely strong, powerful creatures. This is particularly true when you look at how “unicorns” are described and what they are used to represent in the Bible – often strength. It seems quite likely that also in the Bible the phrase “unicorn” was being used to refer to a single-horned rhino, rather than the great mythical equines we associate the word with today. They, therefore, substituted with their best word, “monokeros,” meaning “one-horned,” and this led to later issues with translation, until we ended up with the word “unicorn” as the best attempt.Īlthough Siberian Unicorns were long extinct before the Bible was put into paper, their build and looks match the bible description far better than the modern day unicorn most of us have in mind. When Greeks attempted to translate the Hebrew Bible, the word “r e’em” caused issues as they had no equivalent word – the wild one-horned ox it is believed to have referred to was already extinct. Unicorn as “One-Horned” – Symbol of Lost in Translation UnicornsRule suggests that in earlier texts, the creature referred to was a wild ox. 3- Thirdly, it may be a case of the translation struggling to stay true to the original.Indeed, the word “unicorn” seems to have commonly been used to distinguish between two-horned and one-horned rhinos in the past, while today we don’t make this distinction through the name. The first Webster’s dictionary, 1828, describes a “unicorn” as an animal with a single horn, and specifies that this word is frequently applied to rhinos: nowhere does it raise the question of horses. See also our article where we discuss are rhinos just fat unicorns? According to CreationToday, the word “unicorn” was often used to refer to single-horned rhinos in the past. 2- So, secondly it may be a case of changing semantics, and the meaning of “unicorn” shifting with time.The term “unicorn” was historically used to describe a single-horned rhino.
There are two other explanations which also help to rationalize the presence of these great equines, and explain why modern translations don’t include them – which they could do if they were just symbols. Given that other mythical creature, such as dragons, also appear in the Bible, this seems a logical explanation. 1 – The first one is that they are not meant to represent real creatures, but that unicorns are symbols, meant to show something depending on the context in which they are referenced.It’s possible, but there are several other explanations for the appearance of unicorns in the Bible. With that in mind, there’s one obvious question: why does the unicorn appear in the Bible? After all, many people believe the Bible represents facts, so does that mean unicorns roamed the Earth once? Unicorn Biblical Symbols – 3 Possible Meanings
It may only be one translation, but that’s a lot of verses and a lot of references to unicorns! Why Is The Unicorn In The Holy Bible? Unicorns appear in several books, including Numbers, Isaiah, Job, Deuteronomy, and Psalms, and they appear in
With that established, let’s look more closely at where these fabulous creatures appear in the Bible! Bear in mind that any English Bible is a translation of the original Bible, so words are open to interpretation and different translations – which is why other words can be substituted for “unicorn” without the intended meaning being altered. Good to know: Later versions often substitute another word for “unicorn” to limit confusion for readers. Title page of King James Version of the Bible (first edition)įirstly, it’s important to establish that the version of the Bible which mentions unicorns is the Authorized King James Version.
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