Unicorns and the KJV

[WANDERER]

I was reading up, as I do, and they mentioned unicorns in the Bible and I just had this curious memory of me as a kid being fascinated by the number of times the KJV mentioned unicorns. I was a geeky kid, I'd forgotten how much...I used to sit on the carpet and read the Bible during the loooong church services. One night my mother, noticed I was still at the beginning of the book so she asked what I was up to. My answer, "My seventh time through"... LOL. Anyway since she didn't have much to say about the unicorns I'll ask now : )

The writer mentioned that it was translated differently in the Greek...anyone know what it was translated into...

Yes, I'm on a trivia hunt.

[VisionOfLehi]

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

Taken from Strong's Concordance.

Other translations use "wild ox" or "buffalo"

[WillowTheWhisp]

Satyrs are mentioned too.

[WANDERER]

Thanks Lehi : ) . Caught your post on Strong's Concordance in the stickies after posting this....I have a memory of a huge book. I love online resources.

Willow, you wouldn't be encouraging my geek factor would you? I think I went looking for dragon references after that...can't remember if I found one LOL...googling away...heaps of all of the above.

I was reading about Bible literalists and stuff.

[Moksha]

Could the Unicorns and Satyrs have been the Cureloms and Cumoms?

[Hemidakota]

Book of Ether 9:17-19, it reads…

Having all manner of fruit, and of grain, and of silks, and of fine linen, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things;

And also all manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep, and of swine, and of goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man.

And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms.

Look closer on which group it is associated with - Elephant. Perhaps, different version of Elephant. Noting previous writing: Oxen - Cows, Horses - Asses

[Hemidakota]

I was reading up, as I do, and they mentioned unicorns in the Bible and I just had this curious memory of me as a kid being fascinated by the number of times the KJV mentioned unicorns. I was a geeky kid, I'd forgotten how much...I used to sit on the carpet and read the Bible during the loooong church services. One night my mother, noticed I was still at the beginning of the book so she asked what I was up to. My answer, "My seventh time through"... LOL. Anyway since she didn't have much to say about the unicorns I'll ask now : )

The writer mentioned that it was translated differently in the Greek...anyone know what it was translated into...

Yes, I'm on a trivia hunt.

It mentions HORNS as a plural and not singular horn that we seen today what is claimed to be a Unicorn. [Deut 33:17, Ps 22:21]

The Hebrew term is r'em.

Late edit: I forgot to add this. In Isaiah 34:7, when the author uses the term Unicorn, he is also using it in the same group with the Bulls.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Doesn't the prefix 'uni' denote 'one' though?

[Flyonthewall]

I was reading up, as I do, and they mentioned unicorns in the Bible and I just had this curious memory of me as a kid being fascinated by the number of times the KJV mentioned unicorns. I was a geeky kid, I'd forgotten how much...I used to sit on the carpet and read the Bible during the loooong church services. One night my mother, noticed I was still at the beginning of the book so she asked what I was up to. My answer, "My seventh time through"... LOL. Anyway since she didn't have much to say about the unicorns I'll ask now : )

The writer mentioned that it was translated differently in the Greek...anyone know what it was translated into...

Yes, I'm on a trivia hunt.

From a Feb96 Ensign article

The rich and subtle development of the English language is reflected in the King James translation of the Bible, where words are sometimes used in senses different from those we normally associate with them today. For example, the word unicorn is found several times in the King James Version. Unicorn is understood in modern English to refer to a mythical beast, but unicorn is used in the King James Version as a translation of the Greek Septuagint word monokeros (“single horn”), probably in the sense of “rhinoceros.” (King James translators frequently used the Septuagint to aid them in their work.)

Full article here:

LDS.org - Ensign Article - I Have a Question

[Hemidakota]

Yes.

Even David later in his writing, Palms 92 mentions only one horn. Strange. Though in Job, reading the Unicorn attributes as one considered what is already mentioned: Wild Ox.

[Hemidakota]

From a Feb96 Ensign article

The rich and subtle development of the English language is reflected in the King James translation of the Bible, where words are sometimes used in senses different from those we normally associate with them today. For example, the word unicorn is found several times in the King James Version. Unicorn is understood in modern English to refer to a mythical beast, but unicorn is used in the King James Version as a translation of the Greek Septuagint word monokeros (“single horn”), probably in the sense of “rhinoceros.” (King James translators frequently used the Septuagint to aid them in their work.)

Full article here:

LDS.org - Ensign Article - I Have a Question

Must be the same clerics in describing GOD as a single identity when it reads "Let us make man in our image...":lol:

[Hemidakota]

Actually, I know at times, I do laugh out loud, but laughter is needed today. The Hebrew version shows the term 're'em' where KJV depicts 'Unicorn', which means 'Wild Ox'. I think the Prophet Joseph Smith knew this and corrected some mistakes found in the Old Testament.

[MorningStar]

You mean unicorns never existed?

Dang it.

[prisonchaplain]

Here's a longer answer that seems to explain it well. (Short version--yeah, they were wild ox): Apologetics Press - Unicorns, Satyrs, and the Bible

[Moksha]

You mean unicorns never existed?

Dang it.

I think they fell at the end of the Second Age, when Middle Earth was altered and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were shifted to the fertile crescent.

[WANDERER]

My mum talked about dinosaurs when I showed her all the refs I'd found ; ). She must have read up... eventually, we discussed what life was like in KJV times/more to the tune of PC's link....without dismissing the Middle Earth theory entirely Moshka (after all it's the Bible), but more in a 'it's possible there is a Loch Ness monster' subtle hint way. It's tough being nine.

Guess the Sunday School story about the unicorns not wanting to get on the ark was just for fun Morning Star.

[WillowTheWhisp]

It's possible that there are lots of things we are not aware of even in this day and age. After all it isn't that long ago that the coeleocanth (and I've probably spelt that wrong) was discovered not to be extinct after all)

[Hemidakota]

I think they fell at the end of the Second Age, when Middle Earth was altered and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were shifted to the fertile crescent.

I always wonder how middle earth receives it Sunlight and clouds...

[WANDERER]

Er, you're not joking about the middle earth idea then...ummmm, googles a little, can someone explain this one to me perhaps?

[jjrogers]

I am very disappointed to think a unicorn isn't a beautiful horse with a horn, but an ox or a rhino. They just aren't as pretty to color in a coloring book.

[rameumptom]

I am very disappointed to think a unicorn isn't a beautiful horse with a horn, but an ox or a rhino. They just aren't as pretty to color in a coloring book.

Well, brace for more bad news. Cherubim aren't cute little baby angels that float around shooting people with love arrows.

[Aelswyth]

I believe there were real unicorns, but they looked pretty different than what the image eventually evolved into. Check out the elasmotherium. Especially note the "Possible Historical Witnesses" part; it should raise serious questions about the reliability of "scientific" extinction dates!

[Aelswyth]

Er, you're not joking about the middle earth idea then...ummmm, googles a little, can someone explain this one to me perhaps?

Middle Earth (or actually, Midgard) is the ancient Norse/Germanic/Anglo-Saxon name for the ordinary world of men. It's called Middle Earth because it's in between the realm of Heavenly Father and the gods (Asgard/Heofon) and the underworld of the spirits where the ancestors reside after death (Hell). As most people know, Tolkien used the traditional mythology and cosmology of the ancient Germanic tribes in constructing the world of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the RIngs". Some of our religious terminology comes from here too, including "God", "Heaven" and "Hell" (though that one was/is misapplied to mean a place of suffering, which was actually called Niflhell). The ancient Germanic world-view was remarkably similar to ancient Hebrew and LDS views. Heaven; the Spirit World; Heavenly Father (Tiwaz Fader) and his council of gods; aelfs (meaning "white ones", elves/angels); the immortality of the soul; spirits of animals and plants; Satan (Loki/Fenrir the Wolf); the creation of the first man and woman, Asc and Embla, from earthly elements (trees, in this case); and even prophecies of the Great Sacrifice, told on three different levels: one of Woden, who hung on a tree for nine nights, wounded with a spear in his side, journeyed to the Spirit World and conquered death to gain true knowledge; one of his son, Balder ("the good and beloved god"), who was killed by his blind brother, Hoder (the blind Jews and Romans, "forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do") due to the treachery of Loki (Satan), but who would someday be resurrected to Heaven to rule over the renewed creation; and one of Heavenly Father Himself, Tiwaz Fader, who gave his right hand to the jaws of the Wolf Fenrir (Satan/Death) in order to bind him and prevent the destruction of the world. Sounds pretty familiar, huh? Echoes of the truth, but the significance forgotten.