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Why does the Bible mention unicorns? If you look up the word unicorn in the Webster’s New World dictionary, it says that a unicorn is a mythical horse-like animal with a single horn growing from its forehead. This is a depiction of a unicorn.

Some claim, “This animal is mythical, it’s fictional, it’s make believe, it’s not real. There’s none of these alive today and no scientist has ever found a fossil of one.”

Yet, unicorns are mentioned in the Bible nine times in the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Job, Psalms, and Isaiah. And so because of this, people like to scoff at the Bible.

Scoffers take the opportunity and sarcastically mock, “So, now if you believe in God, you believe in unicorns, which is f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c.”

Jim Strayer, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

“If we’re going to use the Bible for science, we got some tough things to explain. What are you going to do about unicorns who are mentioned eight times in the Bible? I want to tell you what, we have never found a fossil of a unicorn.”

“By the way, where are the unicorns that are referred to in the Bible? Where are those? Either in the fossil record or today to see one of those? Another one of those interesting tests that continues to get failed.”

Well, if you get an old 1828 Noah Webster’s dictionary, which is the very first edition dictionary that Webster came out with about 200 years ago, and if you look up the word unicorn, it says that unicorn is “an animal with one horn, the monoceros. This name is often applied to the rhinoceros.” Notice how this definition says absolutely nothing about a horse, it says nothing about a horse-like animal, or a mythical animal, or a fictitious creature. It says absolutely nothing about Greek mythology whatsoever; but rather, it says that this is a name that is often applied to the rhinoceros.

Wait a minute! What? The rhinoceros? You mean this is a unicorn? But the rhinoceros has two horns. How could this be a unicorn?

Well, if you look up the word rhinoceros in the same dictionary, it says that rhinoceros is “A genus of quadrupeds of two species, one of which, the unicorn, has a single horn growing almost erect from the nose. This animal when full grown is said to be 12 feet in length. There is another species with two horns, the bicornis. They are natives of Asia and of Africa.” According to Noah Webster, back in the early 1800s, it was understood that there were two species of the rhinoceros. The one-horned species was called unicorn and then the two-horned species was called bicornis.

So, a two-hundred-year-old Noah Webster’s dictionary defines the word unicorn as rhinoceros. It defines the word rhinoceros as unicorn. That was just 200 years ago. The Old King James Bible was translated 400 years ago in 1611. So if the definition of the word unicorn has changed in just the past 200 years from rhinoceros to horse, then it doesn’t make much sense to take a modern definition of the word unicorn and apply it to a 400-year-old translation of the Bible. That’s illogical.

As a matter of fact, even today the scientific name of the Asian one horned rhinoceros is rhinoceros unicornis. And diceros bicornis is the scientific name of a two horned rhinoceros. Well where do you think those scientific names came from? Hmm, I wonder.

Well they came from the Latin. Unicornis and bicornis are Latin words. Well, that’s interesting. Because in Psalm 92 verse 10, the psalmist is praying and says, “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn.” If you look up this verse in the Latin Bible, the word that’s being used here is the word unicornis. Unicornis is the same Latin word that’s being used in the scientific name of the Asian one horned rhinoceros.

In Job 39 verse nine, God is speaking to Job and says, “Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib?” If you look up this verse in the Latin Bible, the word that’s being used here is the word rinoceros. Rinoceros is the Latin word that’s being used in this scripture verse. Interesting.

As a matter of fact, in these nine scripture verses, there’s actually five different Latin words that are being used. Rinoceros, rinocerotis, rinocerota, unicornium, and unicornis. These five Latin words are what’s being used when the Old King James version of the Bible says unicorn.

Here’s a book that was published in 2003 called The Return of the Unicorns, the Natural History and Conservation of the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros. On the front cover of this book, there’s a picture of some rhinoceros. And this book is called The Return of the Unicorns. This book was published in 2003. You can buy it on amazon.com for 10 bucks.

Here’s a creature which scientists refer to today as the giant unicorn. It’s an extinct species of a giant one horned rhinoceros called Elasmotherium Sibiricum, and scientists today call it, “the giant unicorn.” As a matter of fact, this is the creature which creation scientists, like Ken Ham, believe to be the unicorn that’s being mentioned in the Bible. Ken Ham is the president of Answers in Genesis and the founder of the Creation Museum. And this is the creature which he believes to be the unicorn that’s being mentioned in the Bible when God is questioning Job and says, “Will the unicorn be willing to serve you? Will he stay in your stall? Can you hitch a unicorn to a plow? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Since he’s so strong, can you trust him? Or will you leave your labor to him? Can you trust him to bring home your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?” ( Job 39:9-12)

The question is, though, why is it that some of the Latin verses say rinoceros, but then others say unicornis? Well, in Psalm 92 verse 10, according to the context of this scripture, it’s talking about a one-horned animal. It uses phrases like my horn and the horn. That’s why it uses the word unicornis, because it’s talking about a one-horned animal.

However, in Deuteronomy 33:7, according to the context of this scripture, it’s talking about a two-horned animal. Here, Moses is speaking about Joseph and he says that Joseph’s horns are like the horns of unicorns. Moses goes on to say, “they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” Moses is saying that Joseph’s two horns are Joseph’s two sons. Ephraim and Manasseh are Joseph’s two sons.

You see, in the King James Bible, when it says “unicorns,” plural with an “S,” there’s actually a marginal note. And if you look up that marginal note, it says that in the Hebrew, it’s actually a “unicorn,” singular. In the Hebrew text, the word being translated unicorn is singular, but the word being translated horns is actually plural possessive. It’s saying that these plural horns are possessed by the singular unicorn, which would mean that it’s not actually a unicorn, but a rinocerotis.

That’s why the verse in Latin doesn’t say unicornis, but rather it says rinocerotis, talking about the two-horned rhinoceros. (Deuteronomy 33:17) This actually makes perfect sense, because the two-horned rhinoceros has a larger horn and a smaller horn. You see, back in Genesis 48;19, Jacob prophesied that Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh. He said that Manasseh “shall be great,” but that Ephraim “shall be greater.” He said that Manasseh “shall become a people,” but that Ephraim “shall become a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 48:19)

And then later on in Deuteronomy 33:17, Moses confirms that Ephraim really is greater than Manasseh because he says “the ten thousands of Ephraim” but “the thousands of Manasseh.” He’s saying that Ephraim consists of tens of thousands of people, but Manasseh only has thousands of people, thus confirming that Jacob’s prophecy really did come true. Ephraim really is greater than Manasseh just like Jacob prophesied. And in order to paint a picture of who Joseph is, he says that Joseph’s horns are like the horns of the rinocerotis, the two-horned rhinoceros, which has a larger horn and a smaller horn. The larger horn being Ephraim and the smaller horn being Manasseh.

So it is true that the Old King James version of the Bible has a mistake in it, but the mistake is not that it mentions a mythical, horse-like animal with a single horn on its head. The mistake is that it mentions a one-horned rhinoceros when some scripture verses, according to the context, are actually talking about a two-horned rhinoceros.