Did Unicorns Exist?

Unicorn - The unicorn, a mythical animal that the Bible refers to.
@gewcew23 (8007)
United States
February 27, 2010 12:41pm CST
References to unicorns occurs nine times in the King James version, Numbers 23:22, 24:8, Deut 33:17, Job 39:9,10, Psalms 22:21, 29:6, 92:10, and Isaiah 34:7. Interestingly other versions translate unicorn into wild ox, example Numbers 23:22 KJV, God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. Where the NIV reads, God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox. Problem is a unicorn and a wild ox are clearly two different animals. Also you have the problem that a unicorn has never existed, if unicorn had ever existed fossils would have been found. So why does the Bible make nine references to a mythical animal as if the unicorn did exist?
2 people like this
5 responses
@jimeny (640)
• Israel
9 Mar 10
I never saw the word 'unicorn' in the bible. To me, a unicorn is a myth. It only exist in the European 'mythology' and if it were a real creature, you would have found drawings/stories about it in Asia and Africa as well.
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
9 Mar 10
The word Unicorn appears in the King James version of the Bible 9 times, it does not appear in other translation though.
@jimeny (640)
• Israel
9 Mar 10
I was talking about the original bible- the Hebrew version. I assume it was lost in translation then.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
27 Feb 10
Oh according to the singing group The Irish Rovers, the Unicorns were playing silly games so they did not get on the ark. By the way, we have few fossils of men before the great Flood. But there then were lots of weird animals that are now extinct. Who knows whether God created so called mythical beasts because they were meant to be on another planet besides earth?
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Them foolish unicorns and their silly little games.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
1 Mar 10
That is for sure. We have no idea what beasts existed then. They say that the dragons were really dinosaurs (with extremely bad breath) I was watching the Discovery and the National Geographic Channel about those prehistoric beasts they had. One thing I can say was God sure had a sense of humor.
1 person likes this
@mjsdls (1840)
• United States
3 Mar 10
When the King James version of the bible was translated it was translated the way they talked back then. For that time century the way the bible was written was easy for them to understand. Everyone know what a unicorn meant in these verses. Today our views on a unicorn are different. Just need to look up and Hebrew and Greek meaning of the original bible content to get the meaning of what you don't understand. The Amplified Version Bible does that for you.
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
3 Mar 10
Well I can accept that when speaking about the at the end of everything but an unicorn does not translate into a wild ox. Also when they wrote the KJV they know what a unicorn was because many members of royalty had unicorns on their coat of arm. When it reads unicorn they meant a horse with a horn not a wild ox.
@zoey7879 (3092)
• United States
6 Mar 10
Your post is quite interesting, and I give you a thumbs up for asking a question about religion that I've not heard a million times over! Animals such as what we believe a unicorn to be could have existed and have yet to be discovered. Scientists uncover "new" species every day, and remains of previously unknown species are still discovered today. Tons of earth have covered the ground which has been walked upon by our ancestors, so it's very possible. However, to call something a unicorn is just to say that something has one horn. I'm honestly not sure where the modern day vision of a unicorn being a one horned horse came from. Stranger creatures and beings have been discovered to exist, so why not?
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
7 Mar 10
Well I do try to ask questions that have not been asked before, and make people think.
@Masihi (4413)
• Canada
27 Feb 10
That's an excellent question, I hope there's some knowledgable people that can answer this question, I figure if I responded to "reinforce" this question, maybe someone would answer...
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Maybe someone will, I hope so.