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
He treated Abram well because of her, so Abram acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
The LORD responded, "Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
So Abraham took sheep and oxen and presented them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
He owned so many sheep, cattle, and servants that the Philistines eventually became envious of him.
Go to the flock and bring me two healthy young goats. I'll prepare some delicious food for your father, just the way he loves it.
So out he went, got them, and brought them to his mother, who then prepared some delicious food, just the way his father liked it.
Then she handed the delicious food and bread that she had prepared to her son Jacob,
As he was observing a well that had been dug out on the open range, all of a sudden he noticed three flocks of sheep lying there, because shepherds watered their flocks from that well. There was a very large stone that covered the opening of the well, and when all the flocks had been gathered there, they would roll away the stone from the opening of the well, water their flocks, and then return the stone to its place covering the opening of the well.
While he was still talking with them, Rachel arrived with her father's sheep, since she was a shepherdess.
So they took Joseph's coat, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the coat in the blood.
Meanwhile, the seven daughters of a certain Midianite priest would come to draw water in order to fill water troughs for their father's sheep.
"If a man steals an ox or sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he is to repay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.
If what was stolen is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox, a donkey or a sheep, he is to repay double.
"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, you are to certainly return it to him.
"You are to make curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tent. You are to make eleven curtains.
He made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tent; he made 11 curtains.
The goods confiscated in excess of the war implements that the warriors had gathered included 675,000 sheep,
the land that the LORD defeated in the sight of the community of Israel is perfect for cattle and your servants have cattle.
"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please.
"When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman straying, don't go away and leave it. Instead, be sure to return it to him.
When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don't ignore it. Instead be sure to help it get up."
"Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing grain."
They turned over everyone in the city for destruction and executed them, including both men and women, young and old, and oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
After Ehud, Anath's son Shamgar attacked 600 Philistines with a cattle prod. He also delivered Israel.
Then Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and poured the broth into a pot, and brought them to the angel right under the oak tree. Then he made his offering.
Manoah responded to the angel of the LORD, "Please, let us detain you while we prepare a young goat for you."
Then Samuel told Jesse, "Are these all the young men?" He said, "There yet remains the youngest one, and right now he's tending the sheep." Samuel told Jesse, "Send someone to get him, for we won't do anything else until he arrives here."
And David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep in Bethlehem.
David told Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd for his father. When a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock,
Then Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed with a cover of goat hair placed at its head. Then she covered it with clothes.
The messengers went in, and there was the household idol in the bed with the cover of goat hair at its head!
David got up and went down to the Wilderness of Paran. Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel of Judah, and the man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
honey, cheeses, sheep, and cheese made from cow's milk for David and his entourage because they had been reasoning, "The people are hungry, tired, and thirsty there in the wilderness."
Elijah left there and located Shaphat's son Elisha, who was plowing, along with a total of twelve pairs of oxen. (He was plowing with the twelfth pair.) As Elijah passed by, he tossed his cloak at Elisha.
Their neighbors came from as far away as the territories of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, bringing provisions loaded on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. They brought abundant provisions of meal, fig bars, raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, because there was joy in Israel.
His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East.
Deal kindly with your servant so I may live and keep your word.
May our cattle grow heavy with young, with no damage or loss. May there be no cry of anguish in our streets!
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a fold for herds, for my people who have sought me.
Since our youth the false gods have consumed the products of our ancestors' hard work, their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.
For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn mule! Nevertheless, will not the LORD feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture?
The survivors of Jacob will live among the nations; they will live among many nations, like a lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, will trample and tear down with no one to deliver.
Use your rod to shepherd your people, the flock that belongs to you, that lives alone in the forest of Carmel. Let them find pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.
Use your rod to shepherd your people, the flock that belongs to you, that lives alone in the forest of Carmel. Let them find pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.
"Pay attention, now! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves.
"What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep and one of them strays, he leaves the 99 in the hills and goes to look for the one that has strayed, doesn't he?
The hired worker, who isn't the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, deserts the sheep, and runs away. So the wolf snatches them and scatters them,
The hired worker, who isn't the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, deserts the sheep, and runs away. So the wolf snatches them and scatters them,
Hastings
The word commonly used in OT is miqneh, meaning primarily possessions or wealth
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The following year, they came to him and reminded him, "We won't hide from you, your Excellency, that we've spent all of our money, and that our livestock all belong to you. There's nothing left to trade with you, your Excellency, except our bodies and our territories.
then the hand of the LORD will comewith a very severe plague on your livestock in the fields, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on cattle, and on sheep.
His livestock included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and many servants. Indeed, the man's stature greatly exceeded that of many people who lived in the East.
He gave their crops to caterpillars and what they worked for to 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.'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Jacob responded, "You don't have to give me anything. Just do this for me: Let me tend your flock again and watch over it. Let me walk among your flocks today and remove every speckled or spotted sheep, along with every black lamb, and let me do the same with the speckled and spotted goats. These will be my wages.
When the flocks mated in front of the branches, they would bear offspring that were striped, speckled, or spotted. Jacob kept the lambs separate, facing the striped and entirely black ones that belonged to Laban's flock. He set his own herd by itself and would not let them be with Laban's flock. read more. Whenever the more vigorous of the flock came into heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the flock to make them mate by the branches. But he didn't put the branches in front of any of the feeble members of the flock. As a result, the feeble ones belonged to Laban, but the stronger ones belonged to Jacob. Therefore the man Jacob prospered so much that he had large flocks, female and male servants, as well as camels and donkeys.
"When Laban said, "The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flock gave birth to speckled ones. Then when he said, "The streaked ones will be your wages,' all the flock gave birth to streaked offspring. "So God has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me. read more. As it was, when it was time for the livestock to breed, I once looked up in a dream, and the male goats that were mating with the flock were producing streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring. "Later, the angel of God spoke to me in a dream, "Jacob.' ""Here I am,' I replied ""Look around!' he said. "Go ahead, look! All the male goats have been mating with the flock, producing offspring that are streaked, speckled, and spotted, because I've been watching everything that Laban has done to you. I am the God of Bethel, the place where you consecrated that stone and made a vow to me. Now get up, leave this territory, and return to your native land.'" Then Rachel and Leah asked him, "Do we have anything left of inheritance remaining in our father's house? He's treating us like foreigners. He sold us and spent all of the money that rightfully belonged to us. Furthermore, all of the wealth that God has stripped away from our father belongs to us now and to our children. So do everything that God tells you to do." So Jacob got up, seated his children and wives on camels, and drove all his livestock ahead of him, with everything that belonged to him, including the livestock that he had bought and accumulated in Paddan-aram, intending to deliver them to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Meanwhile, Laban had been out shearing his sheep. While he was away, Rachel stole her father's personal idols. Moreover, Jacob had deceived Laban the Aramean, because he had never told him that he was intending to leave. Jacob fled, taking everything that he owned. He got up, crossed the river, and headed to the hill country of Gilead. Three days later, somebody reported to Laban that Jacob had left, so he took his relatives with him and pursued Jacob. Laban was on the road for seven days when he finally caught up with Jacob in the hill country of Gilead. That night, God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, "Be careful what you say to Jacob, whether it's one word good or bad." Meanwhile, Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain, where Laban had caught up with him. Laban and his relatives encamped on that same mountain in the hill country of Gilead, too. Then Laban asked Jacob, "What did you do? You deceived me, carried off my daughters like you would war captives, ran away from me secretly, and stole from me by not keeping me informed. Otherwise, I could have sent you off with a party and singing, accompanied by a band playing tambourines and harps. As it is, you didn't even allow me to kiss my grandchildren and daughters goodbye! You've acted foolishly. It's actually in my power to do some serious evil to you, but last night the God of your father told me, "Be careful what you say to Jacob whether good or evil.' Now, you can go if you must go, because you certainly are longing to go to your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?" "I was afraid," Jacob replied. "I thought you might take your daughters from me. Now as to your gods, if you find someone has them in their possession, he's a dead man. Take our relatives as witnesses, search through our belongings, and take whatever belongs to you that's in my possession." But Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the idols. So Laban entered Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the tents of the two maid servants, but he didn't find them. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent. Meanwhile, Rachel had taken the idols, placed them inside the saddle of her camel, and sat on them. Laban searched through the whole tent, but found nothing. Then Rachel told her father, "Sir, please don't be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence. It's that time of the month." So Laban searched for the idols, but never did find them. Then Jacob got angry and started an argument with Laban. "What have I done?" he demanded. "What's my crime that would cause you to come pursue me so violently? Now that you've searched all my belongings, what did you find that belongs to your house? Set it here in front of our relatives and we'll let them judge between us! Meanwhile, these past 20 years that I've been with you, your sheep and goats never had miscarriages, I never once ate any of the rams from your flock, and whatever was torn by beasts, I never bothered to bring to you. Instead, I bore the losses myself. Even so, you demanded that I provide restitution for anything that was stolen, whether during the day or the night. As it was, I was attacked by drought during the day and by cold at night. I never got any decent rest. I've lived in your house these 20 years serving fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flocks. During all that time you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father the God of Abraham, the God whom Isaac feared had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty handed. But God saw my misery and how hard I've worked with my own hands and he rebuked you last night." But Laban answered Jacob, "These women are my daughters. These children are my children. The flocks are mine. In fact, everything that you see belongs to me. But what would I do today to my daughters and the children they have borne?
then the hand of the LORD will comewith a very severe plague on your livestock in the fields, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on cattle, and on sheep. The LORD will distinguish between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians, so that nothing that belongs to the Israelis will die."'" read more. The LORD set the time: "Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land." The LORD did this thing the next day, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died. But not one of the livestock died that belonged to the Israelis. Then Pharaoh inquired and discovered that not a single one of the livestock of Israel had died, but Pharaoh's heart was stubborn and he would not let the people go. Then the LORD told Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it into the air in front of Pharaoh. The soot will become dust over the entire land of Egypt, and it will become boils erupting into sores on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt." So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. Then Moses threw it into the air,and it became boils producing running sores on people and animals. The magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the boils, because the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. The LORD made Pharaoh's heart stubborn so that he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had told Moses. Then the LORD told Moses, "Get up early in the morning, present yourself to Pharaoh, and say to him, "This is what the LORD God of the Hebrews says: "Let my people go so they may serve me. Indeed, this time I'm sending all my plagues against you, your officials, and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. Indeed, by now I could have sent forth my hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been destroyed from the earth. However, I've kept you standing in order to show you my power and to declare my name in all the earth. You are still acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go. Look! About this time tomorrow, I'll send a severe hail storm, such as has not happened in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. So send for your livestock and everything that belongs to you that's out in the field, because every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside to shelters will die when the hail comes down on them."'" Whoever feared the message from the LORD among Pharaoh's officials made his servants and livestock flee into shelters. But whoever did not pay attention to the message from the LORD left his servants and his livestock outside in the fields.
I acquired male and female slaves, and had other slaves born in my house. I also acquired for myself increasing numbers of herds and flocks more than anyone who had lived before me in Jerusalem.
As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."
You haven't brought me your sheep for a burnt offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices, nor have you made meal offerings for me yet I have not tired you about incense!
"Now as for you, my flock, this is what the Lord GOD says: "Watch out! I'm going to judge between one sheep and another, and between the rams and the goats. Is it such an insignificant thing to you that you're feeding in good pastures but trampling down the other pastures with your feet? Or that as you're drinking from the clear streams you're muddying the rest with your feet? read more. My flock is grazing on what you've been treading down with your feet and they're drinking what you've been making muddy with your feet!' "Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: "Watch me! I'm going to judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, since you've been bumping aside all the weaker sheep with your backsides and shoulders, butting them with your horns until they're scattered around outside. That's how I'll save my sheep so they won't be plundered any longer. I'm going to judge between one sheep and another.'"
Smith
Cattle.
[BULL].
See Bull, Bullock