Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Unicorn. Pliny ('Natural History,' 8:21) mentions such an animal: its figure is found depicted in the ruins of Persepolis. The Hebrew х reeym (H7214)] conveys the idea of loftiness and power (cf. Ramah; Indian, Ram; Latin, Roma). The rhinoceros was perhaps the original type of the unicorn. The Arab rim is a two-horned animal. Sometimes 'unicorn,' or reem, is a mere poetical symbol, or abstraction. But the buffalo is the animal referred to here, from the contrast to the tame ox used in plowing, etc. (Job 39:10; Job 39:12.) Many animals have become extinct where once they abounded. Thus the wild bison or urus, described by Caesar, is now only found in Lithuania, but was then spread over the whole of the north temperate climes, and Bashan, Lebanon, etc. Dr. Roth found remains of the lion, not in a fossil state, but waterworn, among the gravel at the Jordan, though it is now no longer there.
Crib - (Isaiah 1:3).
Abide - literally, pass the night х luwn (H3885)].