Reference: Cattle
Easton
abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (De 8:13; 12:21; 1Sa 11:5; 12:3; Ps 144:14; Jer 3:24). They may be classified as,
(1.) Neat cattle. Many hundreds of these were yearly consumed in sacrifices or used for food. The finest herds were found in Bashan, beyond Jordan (Nu 32:4). Large herds also pastured on the wide fertile plains of Sharon. They were yoked to the plough (1Ki 19:19), and were employed for carrying burdens (1Ch 12:40). They were driven with a pointed rod (Jg 3:31) or goad (q.v.).
According to the Mosaic law, the mouths of cattle employed for the threshing-floor were not to be muzzled, so as to prevent them from eating of the provender over which they trampled (De 25:4). Whosoever stole and sold or slaughtered an ox must give five in satisfaction (Ex 22:1); but if it was found alive in the possession of him who stole it, he was required to make double restitution only (Ex 22:4). If an ox went astray, whoever found it was required to bring it back to its owner (Ex 23:4; De 22:1,4).
(2.) Small cattle. Next to herds of neat cattle, sheep formed the most important of the possessions of the inhabitants of Palestine (Ge 12:16; 13:5; 26:14; 21:27; 29:2-3). They are frequently mentioned among the booty taken in war (Nu 31:32; Jos 6:21; 1Sa 14:32; 15:3). There were many who were owners of large flocks (1Sa 25:2; 2Sa 12:2, comp. Job 1:3). Kings also had shepherds "over their flocks" (1Ch 27:31), from which they derived a large portion of their revenue (2Sa 17:29; 1Ch 12:40). The districts most famous for their flocks of sheep were the plain of Sharon (Isa 65:10), Mount Carmel (Mic 7:14), Bashan and Gilead (Mic 7:14). In patriarchal times the flocks of sheep were sometimes tended by the daughters of the owners. Thus Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's sheep (Ge 29:9); as also Zipporah and her six sisters had charge of their father Jethro's flocks (Ex 2:16). Sometimes they were kept by hired shepherds (Joh 10:12), and sometimes by the sons of the family (1Sa 16:11; 17:15). The keepers so familiarized their sheep with their voices that they knew them, and followed them at their call. Sheep, but more especially rams and lambs, were frequently offered in sacrifice. The shearing of sheep was a great festive occasion (1Sa 25:4; 2Sa 13:23). They were folded at night, and guarded by their keepers against the attacks of the lion (Mic 5:8), the bear (1Sa 17:34), and the wolf (Mt 10:16; Joh 10:12). They were liable to wander over the wide pastures and go astray (Ps 119:176; Isa 53:6; Ho 4:16; Mt 18:12).
Goats also formed a part of the pastoral wealth of Palestine (Ge 15:9; 32:14; 37:31). They were used both for sacrifice and for food (De 14:4), especially the young males (Ge 27:9,14,17; Jg 6:19; 13:15; 1Sa 16:20). Goat's hair was used for making tent cloth (Ex 26:7; 36:14), and for mattresses and bedding (1Sa 19:13,16). (See Goat.)
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And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.
And he said, Take a young cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon.
And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement together.
For he had great wealth of flocks and herds and great numbers of servants; so that the Philistines were full of envy.
Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste:
So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste.
And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready.
And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone. And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them.
Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred females and twenty males from the sheep,
Then they took Joseph's coat, and put on it some of the blood from a young goat which they had put to death,
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.
If a man takes without right another man's ox or his sheep, and puts it to death or gets a price for it, he is to give five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep, in payment: the thief will have to make payment for what he has taken; if he has no money, he himself will have to be exchanged for money, so that payment may be made.
If he still has what he had taken, whatever it is, ox or ass or sheep, he is to give twice its value.
If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him
And you are to make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the House, eleven curtains.
And they made curtains of goats' hair for the tent; eleven curtains were made.
Now the beasts taken, in addition to what the fighting-men took for themselves, were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
The land which the Lord gave into the hands of the children of Israel, is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle.
And when your herds and your flocks are increased, and your stores of silver and gold, and you have wealth of every sort;
If the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name is far away from you, then take from your herds and from your flocks which the Lord has given you, as I have said, and have a meal of it in the towns where you may be living.
These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother.
If you see your brother's ox or his ass falling down on the road, do not go by without giving him help in lifting it up again.
Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it.
And they put everything in the town to the curse; men and women, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, they put to death without mercy.
And after him came Shamgar, the son of Anath, who put to death six hundred Philistines with an ox-stick; and he was another saviour of Israel.
Then Gideon went in and made ready a young goat, and with an ephah of meal he made unleavened cakes: he put the meat in a basket and the soup in which it had been cooked he put in a pot, and he took it out to him under the oak-tree and gave it to him there.
And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.
Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your children here? And he said, There is still the youngest, and he is looking after the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and make him come here: for we will not take our seats till he is here.
And David said to Saul, Your servant has been keeper of his father's sheep; and if a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,
Then Michal took the image and put it in the bed, with a cushion of goat's hair at its head, and she put clothing over it.
And when the men came in, there was the image in the bed, with the cushion of goat's hair at its head
Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; he was a great man and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats: and he was cutting the wool of his sheep in Carmel.
And David had word in the waste land that Nabal was cutting the wool of his sheep.
And honey and butter and sheep and milk-cheeses, for David and his people: for they said, This people is in the waste land, needing food and drink and rest.
So he went away from there and came across Elisha, the son of Shaphat, ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, he himself walking with the twelfth; and Elijah went up to him and put his robe on him.
And those who were near, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came with food on asses and camels and mules and oxen, with meal for food and cakes of figs and masses of grapes, and wine and oil and oxen and sheep in great numbers, for there was joy in Israel.
The flocks were in the care of Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were the controllers of King David's property.
And of cattle he had seven thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand camels, and a thousand oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great number of servants. And the man was greater than any of the sons of the east.
Give me, your servant, the reward of life, so that I may keep your word;
We all went wandering like sheep; going every one of us after his desire; and the Lord put on him the punishment of us all.
And Sharon will be a grass-land for the flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for the herds: for my people whose hearts have been turned back to me.
But the Baal has taken all the work of our fathers from our earliest days; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
For Israel is uncontrolled, like a cow which may not be controlled; now will the Lord give them food like a lamb in a wide place.
And the rest of Jacob will be among the nations, in the middle of the mass of peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the woods, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: if he goes through, they will be crushed under foot and pulled to bits, and there will be no saviour.
Keep your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in Bashan and Gilead as in the past.
Keep your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in Bashan and Gilead as in the past.
See, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Be then as wise as snakes, and as gentle as doves.
What would you say now? if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone wandering away, will he not let the ninety-nine be, and go to the mountains in search of the wandering one?
He who is a servant, and not the keeper or the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and goes in flight, away from the sheep; and the wolf comes down on them and sends them in all directions:
He who is a servant, and not the keeper or the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and goes in flight, away from the sheep; and the wolf comes down on them and sends them in all directions:
Hastings
The word commonly used in OT is miqneh, meaning primarily possessions or wealth
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And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land;
Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease.
And of cattle he had seven thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand camels, and a thousand oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great number of servants. And the man was greater than any of the sons of the east.
He gave the increase of their fields to worms, the fruits of their industry to the locusts.
Morish
Various Hebrew words are used in reference to the cow and the ox as 'cattle.' The word miqneh, however, often used for 'cattle,' signifies 'possession,' because the principal property of nomadic tribes consisted of their cattle: the word includes also sheep and goats, but not horses and asses. Ex 9:3-21, etc. Another word, tson, signifies small cattle, that is, sheep and goats. Ge 30:39-43; 31:8-43; Ec 2:7. seh has the same meaning, Ge 30:32; Eze 34:17-22: in Isa 7:25 it is translated 'lesser cattle,' and in Isa 43:23 'small cattle.'
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Let me go through all your flock today, taking out from among them all the sheep which are marked or coloured or black, and all the marked or coloured goats: these will be my payment.
And because of this, the flock gave birth to young which were marked with bands of colour. These lambs Jacob kept separate; and he put his flock in a place by themselves and not with Laban's flock. read more. And whenever the stronger ones of the flock became with young, Jacob put the sticks in front of them in the drinking-places, so that they might become with young when they saw the sticks. But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put the sticks before them; so that the feebler flocks were Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's. So Jacob's wealth was greatly increased; he had great flocks and women-servants and men-servants and camels and asses.
If he said, All those in the flock which have marks are to be yours, then all the flock gave birth to marked young; and if he said, All the banded ones are to be yours, then all the flock had banded young. So God has taken away your father's cattle and has given them to me. read more. And at the time when the flock were with young, I saw in a dream that all the he-goats which were joined with the she-goats were banded and marked and coloured. And in my dream the angel of the Lord said to me, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. And he said, See how all the he-goats are banded and marked and coloured: for I have seen what Laban has done to you. I am the God of Beth-el, where you put oil on the pillar and took an oath to me: now then, come out of this land and go back to the country of your birth. Then Rachel and Leah said to him in answer, What part or heritage is there for us in our father's house? Are we not as people from a strange country to him? for he took a price for us and now it is all used up. For the wealth which God has taken from him is ours and our children's; so now, whatever God has said to you, do. Then Jacob put his wives and his sons on camels; And sending on before him all his cattle and his property which he had got together in Paddan-aram, he made ready to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep; so Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house. And Jacob went away secretly, without giving news of his flight to Laban the Aramaean. So he went away with all he had, and went across the River in the direction of the hill-country of Gilead. And on the third day Laban had news of Jacob's flight. And taking the men of his family with him, he went after him for seven days and overtook him in the hill-country of Gilead. Then God came to Laban in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob. Now when Laban overtook him, Jacob had put up his tent in the hill-country; and Laban and his brothers put up their tents in the hill-country of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, Why did you go away secretly, taking my daughters away like prisoners of war? Why did you make a secret of your flight, not giving me word of it, so that I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with melody and music? You did not even let me give a kiss to my sons and my daughters. This was a foolish thing to do. It is in my power to do you damage: but the God of your father came to me this night, saying, Take care that you say nothing good or bad to Jacob. And now, it seems, you are going because your heart's desire is for your father's house; but why have you taken my gods? And Jacob, in answer, said to Laban, My fear was that you might take your daughters from me by force. As for your gods, if anyone of us has them, let him be put to death: make search before us all for what is yours, and take it. For Jacob had no knowledge that Rachel had taken them. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the tents of the two servant-women, but they were not there; and he came out of Leah's tent and went into Rachel's. Now Rachel had taken the images, and had put them in the camels' basket, and was seated on them. And Laban, searching through all the tent, did not come across them. And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry because I do not get up before you, for I am in the common condition of women. And with all his searching, he did not come across the images. Then Jacob was angry with Laban, and said, What crime or sin have I done that you have come after me with such passion? Now that you have made search through all my goods, what have you seen which is yours? Make it clear now before my people and your people, so that they may be judges between us. These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your goats have had young without loss, not one of your he-goats have I taken for food. Anything which was wounded by beasts I did not take to you, but myself made up for the loss of it; you made me responsible for whatever was taken by thieves, by day or by night. This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back. Then Laban, answering, said, These women are my daughters and these children my children, the flocks and all you see are mine: what now may I do for my daughters and for their children?
Then the hand of the Lord will put on your cattle in the field, on the horses and the asses and the camels, on the herds and the flocks, a very evil disease. And the Lord will make a division between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; there will be no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. read more. And the time was fixed by the Lord, and he said, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And on the day after, the Lord did as he had said, causing the death of all the cattle of Egypt, but there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. And Pharaoh sent and got word that there was no loss of any of the cattle of Israel. But the heart of Pharaoh was hard and he did not let the people go. And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, Take in your hand a little dust from the fire and let Moses send it in a shower up to heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh. And it will become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and will be a skin-disease bursting out in wounds on man and beast through all the land of Egypt. So they took some dust from the fire, and placing themselves before Pharaoh, Moses sent it out in a shower up to heaven; and it became a skin-disease bursting out on man and on beast. And the wonder-workers were not able to take their places before Moses, because of the disease; for the disease was on the wonder-workers and on all the Egyptians. And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said. And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship. For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth. For if I had put the full weight of my hand on you and your people, you would have been cut off from the earth: But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth. Are you still uplifted in pride against my people so that you will not let them go? Truly, tomorrow about this time I will send down an ice-storm, such as never was in Egypt from its earliest days till now. Then send quickly and get in your cattle and all you have from the fields; for if any man or beast in the field has not been put under cover, the ice-storm will come down on them with destruction. Then everyone among the servants of Pharaoh who had the fear of the Lord, made his servants and his cattle come quickly into the house: And he who gave no attention to the word of the Lord, kept his servants and his cattle in the field.
I got men-servants and women-servants, and they gave birth to sons and daughters in my house. I had great wealth of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
And they will send out the oxen and the sheep on all the hills which before were worked with the spade, ... fear of blackberries and thorns.
You have not made me burned offerings of sheep, or given me honour with your offerings of beasts; I did not make you servants to give me an offering, and I did not make you tired with requests for perfumes.
And as for you, O my flock, says the Lord, truly, I will be judge between sheep and sheep, the he-sheep and the he-goats. Does it seem a small thing to you to have taken your food on good grass-land while the rest of your grass-land is stamped down under your feet? and that after drinking from clear waters you make the rest of the waters dirty with your feet? read more. And as for my sheep, their food is the grass which has been stamped on by your feet, and their drink the water which has been made dirty by your feet. For this reason the Lord has said to them, Truly, I, even I, will be judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep. Because you have been pushing with side and leg, pushing the diseased with your horns till they were sent away in every direction; I will make my flock safe, and they will no longer be taken away, and I will be judge between sheep and sheep.
Smith
Cattle.
[BULL].
See Bull, Bullock