Re'em

Detail of a former floor mosaic dating from year 1213, Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna.
Oryx in Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve in Israel.

A re'em, also reëm (Hebrew: רְאֵם), is an animal mentioned nine times in the Hebrew Bible. It has been translated as "unicorn" in the Latin Vulgate, King James Version, and in some Christian Bible translations as "oryx" (which was accepted as the referent in Modern Hebrew),[citation needed] "wild ox", "wild bull", "buffalo" or "rhinoceros". Rabbi Natan Slifkin has argued that the re'em was an aurochs, as has Isaac Asimov before him.

Translation

The King James Version of the Book of Job followed the Septuagint and Jerome's Vulgate in the translation of re'em into unicorn:

Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

Some Bible translations into English, including the American Standard Version and New American Standard Bible, interpret re'em as "wild ox" or "wild bull".


This page was last updated at 2024-01-19 20:03 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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