What are the Unicorns that are mentioned in the Bible?

Popular belief would have you believe that the unicorn is a mythical, mystical, and magical white horse with a single pearl-like spiraled horn sticking awkwardly from it's forehead. Many people use this popular image in an attempt to discredit the Bible. They claim that a book that would mention a mythical creature surely can not be true. But has the unicorn always been envisioned this way? Is it possible that the unicorn is merely an animal that we all know today by a different name?

The King James Version is the only version of the English Bible that uses the word “unicorn”. Other versions of the Bible use the phrase “wild oxen”. There is one major problem with this. By definition, the word “unicorn” means single horn. Oxen, among other bovine, have two horns. Some might dismiss this as a simple mistranslation but Psalm 92:10 describes the unicorn as having a single horn rather than two horns.

In several verses, the Bible describes the unicorn as a powerful animal having destructive abilities and great strength. During a conversation between God and Job, the description can be further revealed. God asks Job if because of the unicorn's great strength, would he trust it to plow his fields. This reveals that the unicorn is a land animal of a plowing size or bigger. Based on the same conversation, it can also be determined that the it is also unwilling to serve or unable to be tamed.

The 1828 Websters Dictionary states that a unicorn is a one horned animal often applied to the rhinoceros. Rhinoceros Unicornis, otherwise known today as the Indian Rhinoceros, fits the description of the Biblical unicorn. It is also important to recognize that the word “unicorn” is included in it's scientific name.

Today, the Indian Rhinoceros' habitat is limited to small, dispersed areas in northern India and Nepal. However, a few thousand years ago, their territory was much greater and could have easily been within an observable range of the Biblical community.

It is uncertain of how the definition of a unicorn changed over time. However, it can be speculated that verbal descriptions of the animal given to people who had never seen it before are likely the cause. The Indian Rhinoceros could easily be described as a horse-like or bull-like creature with a single horn on it's face.