Are Unicorns mentioned in the Bible?

Bible Questions

“Are unicorns mentioned in the Bible?”

Yes. If you read the King James Bible (translated in 1611), you can read about unicorns and dragons.

The King James Bible was translated over 400 years ago and includes some wonderful creatures we don’t recognize today. For example we can read about dragons (Jeremiah 9:11 and 34 other places), Sirens (Isaiah 13:22), Satyrs (Isaiah 13:21; 34:14) and unicorns (Psalm 92:10 and eleven other places). The Douay-Rheims Bible (1582, 1609, 1610 — the English translation of the Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible used by many Catholics) even includes griffons (legendary creatures with the body, tail and hind legs of a lion with the head and wings of an eagle, Leviticus 11:13) and lamias (a horrible, mythical creature that ate children, Isaiah 34:14).

Though these mythical beasts occur in our old English Bibles, that doesn’t mean they actually appear in the Bible. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament. What the presence of mythical beasts in the Bible means is that the Bible translators four hundred years ago didn’t know the meanings of the Hebrew words. When the old English translators of King James’ day encountered Hebrew words they didn’t have meanings for, they guessed! In the days of Shakespeare, people believed in all kinds of mythical creatures from unicorns to dragons so it didn’t seem strange that these creatures should appear in the Bible.

However, 400 years have passed and we have learned a great deal about the true meanings of these ancient words. As archaeologists and linguists continue to discover ancient manuscripts and inscriptions, previously unknown words are deciphered and defined.

So, for example, the Hebrew word re’em, often translated in the KJV Bible as “unicorn,” actually refers to the wild ox (Bos promigenius or Aurochs – an extinct predecessor of our modern cattle). Likewise, the KJV translators were fond of the word “dragon” and used it to translate many unknown animals including jackals (than: Job 30:29; Isaiah 34:13; 35:7 and elsewhere), crocodiles (tannim: Psalm 73:13; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3) and hyenas (ciyyim: Psalm 73:14; Jeremiah 1:39).

That’s just another reason why it is important to choose a modern English Bible like the English Standard Version (ESV) or New International Version (NIV) for your personal Bible study. However, I want to reassure my grandkids, even though unicorns and dragons aren’t real – I still think they are cool.

Vacation Bible School at Canyon View

Of course this past month I turned 60 so I can sit back in my rocking chair and say things like, “I remember when…” Years ago Vacation Bible School was really just an extended Sunday School class with an assembly where we sang “Booster Booster be a Booster.” Then we ate snacks and made crafts with clay and Popsycle sticks.

Boring… But not any more. Last night our 2013 Vacation Bible School began at Canyon View and it rocked! It was an exciting multi-media production of fast paced learning and fun as you can see from this video compilation.

Thanks to “Lady” Lydia and her never-tiring crew. VBS continues through Friday, July 26th.

Santa Teresa Relaunched!

Thanks to our wonderful children, Santa Teresa was hauled out, stripped and repainted over the last ten days. She looks (and runs) better than ever! Here is the video:

 

Special thanks to Paul and Charlotte Bentz, John and Jennifer McKeel, Rachel and Lucy, Holly and James, and Judith Smith (along with Lincoln and Sequoia who barked their encouragement). Driscoll’s Boatyard in Mission Bay was great and the birds were amazing, but next time we paint the decks, I’m going to ask for Santa Teresa to be put in a “No Fly Zone” — (Don’t ask.)

 

 

Narcissus of the Mall

I really hate going to the mall. I find them crowded and frantic and full of rude people. On the other hand, I enjoy sitting down with a good cup of coffee and watching the people go by. People watching is great fun and there is no better place than the mall to observe them.

One person in particular intrigues me. You’ve seen him. He walks by the big glass storefronts and stares at his reflection. Perhaps a hair is out of place, or his pants aren’t hanging just right. Narcissus of the Mall quickly makes an adjustment and then grins, self-satisfied. Now comes the fun part. Watch him do exactly the same thing when he walks in front of the next storefront!

In the first century, they didn’t have the fine, silvered glass mirrors that we enjoy today. The best they had were highly polished metal mirrors and mirrors were prized possessions. While I was in Jerusalem a few years ago, I was fascinated with a display of artifacts archaeologists had discovered in a cave in the desert. There was a goatskin bag, stuffed with straw, wrapped around an ancient mirror. As I stared at the mirror, I tried to imagine the owner. Of all the things she could have taken with her as she fled the Roman soldiers, why did she choose her mirror?

We are coming up on fire season in San Diego and it’s important to have a box of essentials packed and ready to go in case you need to evacuate. In that box you might include important papers, perhaps some cash and a few priceless heirlooms but would you include a mirror? I suppose it would depend on how vain you are.

James the brother of Jesus wrote:

1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

The Bible is like a mirror. It is full of stories and as we read them, we identify with the characters and situations. As we see ourselves in the story, the Bible is like a mirror. The important point is: do we use the mirror as a tool, something that allows us to put things in order, or do we, like Narcissus of the Mall, simply see the Bible as a source of endless entertainment?