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.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And he treated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep and oxen and he asses and menslaves and maidslaves and she asses and camels.
And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.
And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old and a she goat three years old and a ram three years old and a turtledove and a young pigeon.
And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
for he had possession of flocks, possession of herds, great store of servants, and the Philistines envied him.
Go now to the flock and bring me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury food for thy father, such as he loves;
And he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savoury food, such as his father loved.
and she gave the savoury food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
And he looked and saw a well in the field, and, behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And all the flocks gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well's mouth and water the sheep and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place.
And while he yet spoke with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was the pastor.
two hundred she goats and twenty he goats, two hundred sheep and twenty rams,
Then they took Joseph's coat and killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood;
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came and drew water to fill the troughs to water their father's sheep.
If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
If he is found with the theft in his hand, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.
If thou should encounter thine enemy's ox or his ass astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
Likewise thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shalt thou make.
Likewise he made curtains of goats' hair for the tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven curtains.
And the prey, that is the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep
the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and thy slaves have livestock.
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied,
When the place which the LORD thy God shall have chosen to put his name there is far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy cows and of thy sheep, which the LORD has given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates according to all thy soul desires.
These are the animals which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,
Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword.
And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel.
And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour; the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it.
And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are all thy young men here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send for him, for we will not sit down to the table until he comes here.
But David had gone and returned from being with Saul to feed his father's sheep in Bethlehem.
And David replied unto Saul, Thy slave was the pastor of his father's sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
Then Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at his head and covered it with a cloth.
And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillow of goats' hair at his head.
And there was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
and honey and butter and sheep and cheese of cows for David and for the people that were with him, to eat, for they said, These people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
So he departed from there and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.
And likewise, those that were near them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen, and food, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly; for there was joy in Israel.
and over the sheep was Jaziz, the Hagerite. All these were the princes of the substance which was King David's.
His substance was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she asses, and a very great store of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy slave that I may live and keep thy word.
that our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in nor going out; that there be no shout of alarm in our streets.
All we like sheep have become lost; we have turned each one to his own way; and the LORD transposed in him the iniquity of us all.
And Sharon shall be for a fold of flocks and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
For shame has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
for Israel has turned away as a wild heifer; shall the LORD now feed them as rams in a large place?
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there are none that can escape.
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell only in the mountain, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the time of old.
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell only in the mountain, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the time of old.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore prudent as serpents and innocent as doves.
What do you think? If a man had a hundred sheep and one of them went astray, would he not leave the ninety-nine and go into the mountains and seek that which is gone astray?
But the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep.
But the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep.
Hastings
The word commonly used in OT is miqneh, meaning primarily possessions or wealth
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When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord how that the money is gone; my lord also has our herds of cattle; there is not nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands.
behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy livestock which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the cows, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous pestilence.
His substance was seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she asses, and a very great store of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
He gave also their fruits unto the caterpillar and their works unto the locust.
I got myself slaves and maidens and had sons born in my house; also I had great possessions of cattle and sheep above all that were in Jerusalem before me;
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.'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
I will pass through all thy flock today, setting apart all the speckled and spotted sheep, and all the brown rams among the rams, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.
And the flocks conceived before the rods and brought forth ringstraked, speckled, and spotted sheep. And Jacob separated the lambs, and put with his flock the ringstraked and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them together with Laban's sheep. read more. And it came to pass, whenever the stronger sheep conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the sheep in the gutters that they might conceive among the rods. But when the sheep were feeble, he did not put them in; so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly, and had many sheep, and maidslaves and menslaves, and camels, and asses.
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the sheep bore speckled; and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then all the sheep bore ringstraked. Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me. read more. And it came to pass at the time that the sheep conceived, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in dreams, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the females were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. And the angel of God spoke unto me in dreams, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes and see, all the rams which leap upon the sheep are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled; for I have seen all that Laban has done unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou didst anoint the pillar and where thou didst vow a vow unto me. Now arise, go out from this land and return unto the land of thy nature. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? For he has sold us and has even devoured all our price. For all the riches which God has taken from our father, is ours and our son's; now then, whatever God has said unto thee, do. Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; and he carried away all his livestock and all his goods which he had gotten, the livestock of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, to return unto Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. And Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the idols of her father. And Jacob stole away the heart of Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he fled. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed the river and set his face toward Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. Then he took his brethren with him and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they overtook him in Mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Aramean in dreams by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount; and Laban with his brethren pitched in Mount Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away my heart and carried away my daughters as captives taken with the sword? Why didst thou flee away secretly and steal away from me and didst not tell me that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs with tambourine and with harp? And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt, but the God of your father spoke unto me last night, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And now, that thou art leaving, because thy desire is after thy father's house, yet why hast thou stolen my gods? And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Peradventure thou would take by force thy daughters from me. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let them not live; before our brethren discern what is thine with me and take it to thee. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. And Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent, and into the two maidservants' tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah's tent and came to Rachel's tent. Now Rachel took the images and put them in a camel's saddle and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent but did not find them. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but did not find the images. Then Jacob was wroth and contended with Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren that they may judge between us both. These twenty years I have been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not aborted their young, and I have not eaten the rams of thy flock. That which was torn of beasts I did not bring unto thee; I bore the sin; thou didst require of my hand that which was stolen, whether by day or by night. By day the drought consumed me, and by night, the frost; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, were not with me, surely thou would send me away now empty. God has seen my affliction and the work of my hands and rebuked thee last night. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these sons are my sons, and these sheep are my sheep, and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their sons unto whom they have given birth?
behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy livestock which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the cows, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous pestilence. And the LORD shall separate between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt so that nothing shall die of all that is of the sons of Israel. read more. And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the next day the LORD did that thing, and of all the livestock of Egypt many died, but of the livestock of the sons of Israel not one died. Then Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the livestock of the sons of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh hardened, and he did not let the people go. And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Let each of you take handfuls of soot from the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become dust upon all the land of Egypt, which shall cause boils breaking forth with blisters upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took the soot of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and boils breaking forth with blisters came upon man and upon beast until the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did hearken unto them as the LORD had spoken unto Moses. Then the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me. For otherwise this time I will send all my plagues upon thine heart and upon thy slaves and upon thy people that thou may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. For in truth I have placed thee to declare my power in thee, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Thou even so dost exalt thyself against my people that thou wilt not let them go. Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. Send therefore now and gather thy livestock and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. He that feared the word of the LORD among the slaves of Pharaoh made his slaves and his livestock flee into the houses; and he that did not regard the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.
I got myself slaves and maidens and had sons born in my house; also I had great possessions of cattle and sheep above all that were in Jerusalem before me;
But the fear of briers and thorns shall not come unto all the hills that were dug with the hoe, but they shall be for pasture of oxen and for the treading of the lesser cattle.
Thou hast not brought me the animals of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
And as for you, O my flock, thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the he goats. Does it seem a small thing unto you that ye eat of the good pastures, but ye also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and that in drinking of the deep waters, ye must also foul the residue with your feet? read more. And my sheep eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and between the lean sheep, because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder and pushed all the weak with your horns until ye have scattered them outside. I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
Smith
Cattle.
[BULL].
See Bull, Bullock