Why do people insist the "unicorn" mentioned in the Bible is an ox?

Question

when clearly, by definition, a unicorn is a ONE horned animal, and there is no ox that matches that description.

Face it, the Bible got it WRONG.

Answer 1

The bible got it wrong: well... yes and no.

There is no way to tell for sure what animal they were talking about, that the King James and some later translations call a "unicorn."

Most bible scholars I read say they think it was an animal called an "oryx," a kind of antelope.

There was once species that was around the middle East that is extinct now. They think that they had a tendency to lose one or both horns from time to time, and that might be where the myth of the unicorn started.

But you're right in that we have no evidence at all that real unicorns -- the horse with the spiral ivory horn -- ever existed outside of fervid imaginations.

Answer 2

If you are going to talk about the Bible, especially where in 1611 they said "Unicorns", you have to abandon the English in favor of the Hebrew. Unless you have something older than that.

Here is the scriptural analysis of that word translated by the King James authors as "Unicorn":

ar from (07213)
Transliterated Word TDNT Entry
R@'em TWOT - 2096a
Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech
reh-ame' Noun Masculine

Definition
probably the great aurochs or wild bulls which are now extinct. The exact meaning is not known.

From other literature from ancient times, the reem was a creature like an ox, which was VERY agressive. It would kill people who entered it's territory. That is probably the reason why they are extinct. They were supposedly as big as some houses.

Why are those that talk about the effects that man has on the world unwilling to accept that man probably made some creatures extict IF they are referenced in the Bible? I am not saying that you are that way, but it is curious that extinction is only evidenced by those willing to accept that there was an extinction of other animals that are brought up by other sources. Why not the Bible?

Answer 3

Hmmm... Clearly the Bible must be wrong, since everyone knows there's no such thing as a unicorn. How, by the way, do you give a definition to an imaginary creature?

Answer 4

Just because there are no unicorns on earth doesn't prove there is none in heaven.

The Bible, the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New Testament, preserved for us in the Masoretic text (Old Testament) Textus Receptus (New Testament) and in the King James Bible, is verbally and plenarily inspired of God. It is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and altogether authentic, accurate and authoritative Word of God, therefore the supreme and final authority in all things (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 1:21; Rev. 22:18-19).

Answer 5

I don't believe it was and ox and I also don't believe that the Bible is wrong. I believe that it was a one horned animal, possibly the single horned rhino... they do exist you know.

Answer 6

You're right. That is funny. Especially when those same people say "it literally took God 1 Earth week to make the universe, because that's what the Bible says". hahaa

Answer 7

After the talking snake and donkey, you are worried about this? It's way more believable that a freak horse had a horn.

Answer 8

because the bible can't be wrong - which is why evolution is an improbably conspiracy involving thousands of scientists over many decades.

It's hard not to consider them crazy sometimes

Answer 9

Unicorns?
they don't exist.......
where in the bible does it says anything about unicorns?
It now make it sound more and more like a fairy tale.....

Answer 10

Because they obviously don't know any better. They're too foolish to recognize that YOU"RE the bible expert.