Isaiah 34:7
in Isaiah 34And the wild oxen will fall with them, the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be soaked with fat.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the wild-oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
KJV
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
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This verse in Isaiah 34
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAnd the unicorns shall come down with them,.... With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as (m) others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the common soldiers, and inferior officers, the general officers should fall; and so the Targum, "and the mighty shall be slain with them.'' R.
This site's exposition
My sword has drunk its fill
on Isaiah 34:5-8
The oracle narrows to Edom by name, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. The slaughter is described as a sacrifice in Bozrah, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Behind it stands Edom's old hostility toward Judah, the violence against your brother Jacob in Obadiah 1:10.
This site's exposition
the wild oxen will fall with them
The wild ox, the re'em of the Hebrew, was a fierce beast of great strength, and the King James called it the unicorn. Gill follows the Targum, which reads the oxen and young bulls as the mighty men of Edom falling beside the common soldiers. Leaders and people fall together.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 34, Verse 1, etc.) Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that springs from it. For the Lord's indignation is against all the nations, and His fury is against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them and given them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And as to the great, setting out their killing: and the unicorns, a fierce animal the size of a cat, with one horn, and thus it signifies the powerful and monarchs, shall go down, into death, above: their strong ones, and their high and glorious …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The unicorns - It is confessed, this was a beast of great strength and fierceness; and it is used in this place to signify their princes and potentates, who shall be humbled and cast down. Them - With the lambs, and goats, and rams. Fatness - With the fat of the slain sacrifices, mingled with it.
The greatest of men are nothing before the wrath of the great God. See what bloody work will be made: The land shall be soaked with blood, as with the rain that comes often upon it and in great abundance; and their dust, their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with the fatness of men slain in their full strength, as with manure.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And the unicorns - Margin, ‘Rhinoceros’ (ראמים re'ēmı̂ym from ראם re'êm). This was evidently an animal well known in Palestine, since it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament (Num 23:22; Deu 33:17; Job 39:9-10; Psa 22:21; Psa 29:6; Psa 92:10, in all which places it is translated unicorn, or unicorn). The derivation of the word is uncertain, and it has been regarded as doubtful what animal is intended. The corresponding Arabic word denotes the oryx, a large and fierce species of the antelope. Gesenius, Schultens, De Wette, and Rosenmuller suppose that the buffalo is intended by the word.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
unicorns--Hebrew, reem: conveying the idea of loftiness, power, and pre-eminence (see on Job 39:9), in the Bible. At one time the image in the term answers to a reality in nature; at another it symbolizes an abstraction. The rhinoceros was the original type.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The unicorns shall come down - ראמים reemim, translated wild goats by Bishop Lowth. The ראם reem Bochart thinks to be a species of wild goat in the deserts of Arabia. It seems generally to mean the rhinoceros. With blood “With their blood” - מדמם middamam; so two ancient MSS. of Kennicott’s the Syriac, and Chaldee.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיָרְד֤וּ | veyaredu | and they will go down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| רְאֵמִים֙ | reemim | wild oxen | H7214 → | |
| עִמָּ֔ם | ʾimam | with them | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| וּפָרִ֖ים | ufarim | and young bulls | H6499 → | |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| אַבִּירִ֑ים | ʾabirim | mighty [bulls] | H47 → | 17 times |
| וְרִוְּתָ֤ה | verivetah | and it will drink its fill | H7301 → | 14 times |
| אַרְצָם֙ | ʾartzam | land their | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִדָּ֔ם | midam | from blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| וַעֲפָרָ֖ם | vaafaram | and dust their | H6083 → | 110 times |
| מֵחֵ֥לֶב | mechelev | from fat | H2459 → | 92 times |
| יְדֻשָּֽׁן׃ | yedushan | it will be fattened | H1878 → |
וְיָרְד֤וּand they will go down
veyareduH3381 →381 times
רְאֵמִים֙wild oxen
reemimH7214 →
עִמָּ֔םwith them
ʾimamH5973 →1050 times
וּפָרִ֖יםand young bulls
ufarimH6499 →
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
אַבִּירִ֑יםmighty [bulls]
ʾabirimH47 →17 times
וְרִוְּתָ֤הand it will drink its fill
verivetahH7301 →14 times
אַרְצָם֙land their
ʾartzamH776 →2504 times
מִדָּ֔םfrom blood
midamH1818 →360 times
וַעֲפָרָ֖םand dust their
vaafaramH6083 →110 times
מֵחֵ֥לֶבfrom fat
mechelevH2459 →92 times
יְדֻשָּֽׁן׃it will be fattened
yedushanH1878 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Numbers 23:22God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
it leads to
- Numbers 24:8
God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- Deuteronomy 33:17
His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the…
- Job 39:9–11
Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?
- Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Psalms 22:21
Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me!
- Numbers 24:8
Through
Psalms 68:30Rebuke the beast in the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the nations, until it submits, bringing bars of silver. Scatter the nations who delight in war.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:12–13
Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
- Psalms 22:12–13
Through
Jeremiah 50:27Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come—the time of their punishment.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 46:21
Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them—the time…
- Jeremiah 46:21
Through
Jeremiah 50:11“Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,
it leads to
- Isaiah 47:6
I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.
- Isaiah 47:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.