the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Ox, Oxen, Herd, Cattle
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or OX, OXEN, HERD, CATTLE
1 . shôr , Genesis 32:5 , 1 Samuel 22:19 etc.; Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] tor (cf. Arab- thaur ) is used in Ezra 6:8; Ezra 6:17; Ezra 7:17 and Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:32-33; shôr is used collectively and also for a single member of the bovine species of any age and either sex.
2 . ’ăl âphîm (only in pl.); a general term for ‘oxen,’ Deuteronomy 7:13; Deuteronomy 28:4; Deuteronomy 28:18; Deuteronomy 28:51 , Psalms 8:7 , Proverbs 14:4 , Isaiah 30:24 .
3 . par ‘young hull,’ ‘bullock’; and pârâh ‘young cow.’ See Heifer.
4 . ’abbîr (in plur.) ‘bulls’ in Psalms 22:12; Psalms 50:13 , Isaiah 34:7; but ‘strong ones’ or ‘horses’ elsewhere.
5 . teô , Deuteronomy 14:5 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘wild ox,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘antelope’; tô . Isaiah 51:20 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘wild bull,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘antelope.’
6 . ’çdher herd; in Joel 1:18 conjoined with bâqâr = herds of oxen; and in same versa with tsôn = herds (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘flocks’) of small cattle (sheep and goats).
7 . migneh usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘cattle’; in Genesis 47:17 conjoined with bâgâr = ‘herds’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘cattle of the herds’.
8 . bÄ›hÄ›mah ‘cattle’; in Genesis 47:18 conjoined with migneh = ‘herds of cattle.’
Oxen are specially valuable in Palestine for ploughing (Deuteronomy 22:19 , 1 Kings 19:19 ) and for threshing, i.e . ‘treading out the corn’ ( Deuteronomy 25:4 , Hosea 10:11 ). They were used for carts ( Numbers 7:3 ); the Circassians, recently settled in Palestine, use them extensively in this way, but not the fellahîn . In 1 Chronicles 12:40 oxen are also mentioned as burden-bearers. Their use for sacrifice is repeatedly referred to (see 1 Kings 8:53 , 2 Chronicles 29:33 ). The cattle of Palestine are small and mostly lean, owing to poor food and much work. They are most plentiful in Galilee, where the pasturage is better; and a much larger breed, the cows of which give excellent milk, flourishes around Damascus. In several parts of the Jordan Valley, notably in el-Batiha , N. of Lake of Tiberias, and near Lake Huleh, the buffalo or jamus ( Bosbubalus ) is kept by the Bedouin; it yields excellent milk.
For the ‘ wild ox ’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of rÄ›’ çm ), see Unicorn.
E. W. G. Masterman.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Ox, Oxen, Herd, Cattle'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/o/ox-oxen-herd-cattle.html. 1909.
