The Authorized Bible has nine verses where the word “unicorn” appears. These are the following:
Numbers 23:22, God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. (Wild ox, NIV)
Numbers 24:8, God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. (Wild ox, NIV)
Deuteronomy 33:17, His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they arethe thousands of Manasseh. (Wild ox, NIV)
Job 39:9-10, 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? (Wild ox, NIV)
Psalm 22:21, Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. (Wild ox, NIV)
Psalm 29:6, He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. (Wild ox, NIV)
Psalm 92:10, But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. (Wild ox, NIV)
Isaiah 34:7, “ 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.” (Wild ox, NIV)
Similarly, the authorized Bible has four instances where the cockatrice is mentioned. A cockatrice is a mythical chimeric beast with the body of a serpent, dragon wings, and roosters torso.
They, of course, don’t exist.
However, people medieval England believed them to exist and put them into both the Authorized Bible and the Wyclef Bible.
Isaiah 11:8, And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
Isaiah 14:29, Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
Isaiah 59:5, They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Jeremiah 8:17, For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which willnot be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
These are generally translated as generic vipers in more modern versions.
A common response to this objection is that these words appear only in certain English translations. In essence, these creatures are not found in the original manuscript, but only show up with translations, which aren't "God-breathed."
That may work for unicorns and cockatrices, but does not work for the Leviathan.
The Leviathan is described as a natural creature with double coat of armor. (Job 41:13). It has a mouth full of fearsome teeth and its back has rows of shields.(v. 14-15). It has flesh folds which are tightly joined and immovable. (v.23)
Despite a description of its natural "flesh", nothing like this exists in the natural world. The following are other descriptions of this same creature (v. 18-21)
Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
Certain translations also mention this creature elsewhere. Notably the Authorized Bible while others refer to at as sea serpent. Notably, Psalm 74:14 describes it as having multiple heads. "Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
Likewise, the description of having meat which can feed people reinforces the notion that this thing exists in the natural world.
It does not. It is a fire-breathing, multi-headed sea serpent. No creature matching this description has ever been found.
To save textual inerrancy, we must either state the the Leviathan is supernatural, but is metaphorically natural with meat and flesh. Or, we must declare the supernatural aspects of it are metaphorical and the physical descriptions speak of a natural creature, say a crocodile.
Either way, we must confront the fact that all descriptions cannot be literally true.
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