Are Unicorns Real According to The Bible?

By Prattiba JaiSri On Nov 28, 2021

The unicorn is a mythical creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.

Unicorns are mentioned, by name, at least nine times in the King James Bible translation. They are only found in the Old Testament, with all references to them derived from the Hebrew word rame.

They are in several books, including Numbers, Isaiah, Job, Deuteronomy, and Psalms, and they appear in Numbers 23:22, Numbers 24:8, Isaiah 34:7, Job 39:9-12, Deuteronomy 33:17, Psalm 22:21, Psalm 29:6, and Psalm 92:10.

Modern translations also vary in the way they translate the Hebrew word rame used for unicorns. For example, in Isaiah 34:7, the word is translated ‘oxen’ in the NCV, ‘wild oxen’ in the NIV, NASB and others, and ‘reems’ in the YLT.

One scholarly urge to identify the unicorns in the Bible with the Assyrian aurochs springs from a similarity between the Assyrian word rimu and the Hebrew word re’em.

Anglicized transliterated words from languages that do not share the English alphabet and phonetic structure may be difficult to interpret.

However, biblical commentaries vary widely regarding what they think is the animal referenced as unicorns is actually referencing. They state it could be an extinct wild bull called the auroch, a rhino, a wild buffalo or ox, a wild goat, or even an antelope.

According to this article, this is what the Bible says about unicorns:

Unicorns are mentioned in the Bible, but only in King James Version. Newer translations don´t mention unicorns.
The original Hebrew word re’em could be translated as a unicorn, a rhinoceros, or a wild ox
Unicorns are mentioned in 9 verses in King James’s Version
The unicorn can be seen as an allegory to Christ and even God
Physiologus, an ancient Christian bestiary has a legend of a unicorn caught by a virgin. The unicorn has been interpreted as Christ and the virgin as Virgin Mary.

Meanwhile, Unicorn Yard says, “The unicorn has had a great deal of influence on the Bible, and appears repeatedly throughout the text.

Why it is there and what it means will probably be a long-standing source of debate, but it seems most likely that it’s an issue with translation, or with modern language having changed the meaning of the word ‘unicorn’.”

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