Thursday, March 10, 2022

Legacy Standard Bible Flaw #2: Unicorns

Before addressing this particular flaw (that is not unique to the LSB), I want to stress that the Legacy Standard Bible is an excellent translation of the Bible and I highly recommend it for reading and studying. With that said, however, it still retains several flaws that modern translations have yet to address and correct.

"WILD OX":

Unfortunately, the LSB continues to make the modern mistake of assuming that the "unicorn" is a mythical horse-like creature with a horn in the center of its head and choose an erroneous translation to render the Hebrew.

"God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of a wild ox." (Num. 23:22)

"God brings them out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, and will gnaw their bones in pieces, and shatter them with his arrows." (Num. 24:8)

"As the firstborn of his ox, splendor is his, and his horns are the horns of the wild ox; with them he will push the peoples, all at once, to the ends of the earth. And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and those are the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut. 33:17)

"Will the wild ox consent to serve you, or will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?" (Job 39:9-10)

"Save me from the mouth of the lion; from the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me." (Ps. 22:21)

"He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox." (Ps. 29:6)

"But You have raised up my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil." (Ps. 92:10)

"And wild oxen will also fall with them, and young bulls with strong ones; thus their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust become greasy with fat." (Isa. 34:7)

The Hebrew word rendered as unicorn in many of our older translations appears as riem (ראם), rieym (ראים), reym (רים), or rem (רם), which The Complete Word Study Dictionary Old Testament writes, "A masculine noun indicating a wild ox. It refers to a large animal with horns that are powerful offensive as well as defensive weapons." However, this definition is wrong, as we will see in a moment! The fact is, English translators from the past chose to translate it as unicorn for a reason. Rather than assume, based on modern ideas and concepts of what a "unicorn" is, we would do well to find out why these translators chose this word and what it meant to them. I am quite certain it was not the mythical one-horned horse we see depicted today. Chances could be quite possible that they were referring to an animal that we no longer see today; a very real and non-mythical animal referred to as the unicorn. However, I believe that we do see this animal today.

The Webster's New World Dictionary says of the word 'unicorn': "A mythical horse-like animal with a single horn growing from its forehead." The 1828 Noah Webster American Dictionary of the English Language says of the word 'unicorn': "An animal with one horn: the monoceros. This name is often applied to the rhinoceros." Hmm... interesting. Notice how this definition says nothing about a "horse," a "horse-like animal," a "mythical animal," a "fictitious creature," or "Greek mythology"? It says this name is often applied to the rhinoceros. People frequently and erroneously think of rhinoceroses as having two horns. If you look up the word "rhinoceros" in the same dictionary, you read: "A genus of quadrupeds of two species, one of which, the unicorn, has a single horn growing almost erect from the nose. ... There is another species with two horns, the bicornis." Noah's original dictionary was written almost 200 years ago. The KJV Bible was translated over 400 years ago. The Wycliffe Bible was first published in 1382 and used the word 'unicorn'. So if the definition of the word 'unicorn' has changed in the last 200 years from a rhinoceros to a horse, it does not make sense to take a modern definition of the word 'unicorn' and apply it to a 400-year-old and a 600-year-old translation of the Bible. That is illogical. The reference to the description of its strength should be noted; not just the name. This animal is obviously very powerful. What kind of strength does a horse have in contrast to that of a rhinoceros? 

Furthermore, it is interesting to note that the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) translated these words as monokeros (μονοκερως), monokerotos (μονοκερωτος), and monokeroton (μονοκερωτων), which literally mean "one horn"; μονος "only, alone, without others" (i.e., "one") and κερας, "horn." Nearly 2,000 years before the Geneva and KJV Bibles were produced, the Hebrew scholars who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek chose these words. The Latin Vulgate translates the first 5 passages as rinocerota, rinoceros, and rinocerotis (rhinoceros), while it translates the last 4 passages as unicornis , unicornes, and unicornium. The Douay-Rheims Latin Bible renders Psalm 29:6 as rinocerotis and Psalm 92:10 as monocerotis (Remember Noah Webster's definition? Remember the Septuagint's rendering?). Interestingly enough, the scientific name for the single-horned rhinoceros is Rhinoceros unicornis.

You see, in Deuteronomy 33:17, in the KJV, it says, "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." The Hebrew word for 'unicorn' is singular, whereas the Hebrew word for 'horns' is plural possessive. Now, look closer at this passage and what it says: "his horns are like the horns of unicorns"; and it goes on to say "they are the ten thousands of Ephraim" and "they are the thousands of Manasseh." Back in Genesis 48:19, it was prophesied that Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh. In the Latin Vulgate, the word 'unicorn' here is rinocerotis; the two-horned rhinoceros. Ever examine the horns of a two-horned Rhinoceros?

Ephraim is compared to the larger horn of the two-horned Rhinoceros, while Manasseh is compared to the smaller horn. A "wild bull" or a "wild ox" is not a suitable translation for these passages. These translators have rendered it this way because, rather than believe the Bible and do their homework, they applied modern understanding of the mythical unicorn and feared the Bible might contain some kind of error. We can trust our Bibles, people! Something to think about.