an ox: one head of cattle, the heavy farm animal that pulls a plow, treads out grain, or is sold for the altar
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the ordinary Greek word for cattle, the big domestic animal of a working farm. Greek could be precise when it wanted to be, naming the bull (ταῦρος) or the young calf (μόσχος), but this word simply says "head of cattle" and leaves the animal's sex and age open. The scene tells you what kind of beast is in view; the word itself does not.
In the New Testament the animal turns up doing what such animals did. A man unties one from its stall on the Sabbath and leads it off to drink, another falls into a pit and has to be hauled out, and a buyer takes on five yoked pairs and goes off to try them in the field. Twice the word stands inside a quotation of the old rule against muzzling the animal while it treads out grain, and both times the argument being made is about paying the person who does the work, not about farming.
Only in John's account of the temple does the word name animals as goods for sale. Traders had penned cattle in the temple courts for pilgrims who needed something to offer, and Jesus drives them out along with the sheep. The Greek word is exactly the same as in the farmyard scenes; what changes is why the animal is standing there.
Whether Paul's question in 1 Corinthians 9:9, asking whether God is concerned about oxen, denies that the law is really about cattle or argues from God's care for cattle up to his care for human workers.
majorityThe question sets the literal animal aside. Paul reads Deuteronomy 25:4 as written for the sake of human workers, so the ox is not the law's real concern.; Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT), on 1 Corinthians 9:9; Hans Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians (Hermeneia), on 1 Corinthians 9:9
minorityThe question is an argument from the smaller case to the greater one and does not deny God's concern for the animal. The law keeps its plain force, and Paul extends its principle to those who preach.; David Instone-Brewer, "1 Corinthians 9.9-11: A Literal Interpretation of Do Not Muzzle the Ox", New Testament Studies 38 (1992); Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 1 Corinthians 9:9
the Greek word does not say the animal is male, castrated, or trained to the plow; it simply names a head of cattle and lets the setting supply the restJhn 2:14Luk 14:19
Both
both name the large domestic bovine a household keeps, waters, works, and rescues when it fallsLuk 13:15Luk 14:5
Only ox
in English an ox is specifically a castrated bull broken to heavy work, and for most readers today it is an old-fashioned word tied to plows and carts
This is the work animal. It is bought in pairs to pull a plow, and it walks over the harvested grain to thresh it, which is why the law says not to muzzle it while it works.Luk 14:191Co 9:91Ti 5:18
It belongs to the daily routine of a household, so it shows up in arguments about ordinary care: untied and led out for a drink even on a rest day, or hauled straight back out of a well when it falls in.Luk 13:15Luk 14:5
Both
Both name full grown cattle, the largest and costliest animals a person could own, so both turn up as property whose value drives the scene: five pairs just purchased, or a herd fattened for a feast.Luk 14:19Mat 22:4
Either animal can stand in a place of worship as an offering. Cattle rendered "oxen" were being sold in the temple courts for sacrifice, and cattle rendered "bulls" were brought to the gates for one.Jhn 2:14Act 14:13
Every New Testament use shows this animal on its way to being killed, never at work: fattened and slaughtered for a wedding banquet, or led out with wreaths so a crowd can offer it to a god.Mat 22:4Act 14:13
Paired with goats, it becomes the set phrase for the blood of Israel's old offerings, and it carries the argument that such blood could clean the body but never clear the conscience.Heb 9:13Heb 10:4
μόσχοςthe calf or young bullock, an animal named by its youth, where this word says nothing about how old the animal is
Names the full grown animal as a worker, the muscle of a farm: bought in teams to pull a plow, and walking over cut grain to thresh it.Luk 14:191Co 9:9
Stands for ordinary property whose daily care everyone takes for granted, which is why Jesus can argue that untying one for water, or pulling one out of a well, is no violation of the Sabbath.Luk 13:15Luk 14:5
Carries a figurative life in the letters, where the old rule about not muzzling the animal that treads the grain is quoted to insist that the person doing the work deserves to be fed.1Co 9:91Ti 5:18
Both
Both name cattle, the large herd animal that a household counted as real wealth, whether it was driven to market or killed for a feast.Jhn 2:14Luk 15:23
Both belong to the world of the temple: one is sold in its courts to be offered, the other supplies the blood taken inside.Jhn 2:15Heb 9:12
Names the young animal fattened for eating, the centerpiece of a celebration meal that a household kills only for an occasion worth the expense.Luk 15:23Luk 15:27Luk 15:30
Is the animal of the altar in the letter to the Hebrews, whose blood is sprinkled to seal the covenant and carried into the holy place.Heb 9:12Heb 9:19
Supplies the face of one of the four living creatures in John's vision of the throne room, a picture of strength in worship rather than a beast in a field.Rev 4:7
δάμαλιςthe heifer, a young cow named for both its sex and its youth, where this word leaves both of those open
κτῆνοςthe broad word for a domestic animal or pack animal of any kind, where this word narrows it to cattle
Names one particular animal, the ox, and not animals in general. It is the big farm animal a reader can picture: bought in pairs to work a field, and driven out of the temple courts alongside the sheep.Luk 14:19Jhn 2:15
The animal that does heavy work for its owner. It pulls in harness and walks over the cut grain to thresh it, which is why the old rule that it must not be muzzled while it works is quoted twice as a picture of paying a worker.1Co 9:91Ti 5:18
The animal on sale for worship. It is one of the creatures the temple traders were selling for sacrifice when Jesus cleared the courts.Jhn 2:14
Both
Both name animals kept under human care rather than wild creatures. One is untied from its stall and led out to drink on the Sabbath, the other belongs to a traveler and is put to work carrying an injured man.Luk 13:15Luk 10:34
Both are valuable property that changes hands. A man buys five pair to farm with, and a trading city takes them in as cargo along with its other merchandise.Luk 14:19Rev 18:13
Names no species at all. It is the catch-all word for the animals people keep, used when the point is animals as a whole class set beside people, birds and fish, or animals as one line in a list of goods.1Co 15:39Rev 18:13
The animal you ride or load up. It carries the wounded traveler to the inn, and it is what an officer orders made ready so a prisoner can be moved out of the city by night.Luk 10:34Act 23:24
bous in the other biblical languages
שׁוֹרHebrew“cattle”the Hebrew word for a single head of cattle, the ox of the law codes, which Paul's quotation renders with this Greek word
The Greek word names the ox in everyday New Testament scenes: animals untied and led to water, fallen into a pit on the Sabbath, or sold in the temple courts.Luk 13:15Luk 14:5Jhn 2:14
Both
Both name the same domestic ox, and Paul renders the Hebrew word with the Greek one when he quotes the law against muzzling an ox as it treads out grain.Deu 25:41Co 9:91Ti 5:18
The Hebrew word is the focus of detailed law: the goring ox, the ox as property in theft and restitution, and the ox forbidden to be muzzled while treading grain.Exo 21:28Exo 21:35Deu 25:4
בָּקָרHebrew“cattle”the Hebrew collective word for cattle as a herd, where this Greek word normally names the animals one at a time or in counted pairs
In the Greek of the New Testament, names the single working ox: the draft animal led to water, plowing the field, or treading out grain.Luk 13:151Co 9:9
The ox sold for sacrifice in the temple courts, the animal Jesus drives out along with the money changers.Jhn 2:14Jhn 2:15
Both
Both name the bovine animal of the field and altar; where the Hebrew brings cattle of the herd for offering, the Greek of the New Testament uses its word for ox of the same temple animals.Lev 1:5Jhn 2:14
A collective word for the cattle of the herd as a body: oxen and cows counted together as part of a person's wealth, where the Greek word names the single ox.Gen 13:5Gen 24:35
תּוֹרAramaic“bullock”the Aramaic word for the same creature, used of the bulls supplied for temple offerings and of the grazing beasts a humbled king is made to live among
The Greek word is the everyday work animal of a working farm: bought and tried out in yoked pairs, untied from its stall and led off to water, and hauled back out when it falls into a pit on the Sabbath.Luk 14:19Luk 13:15Luk 14:5
It carries a settled figure of speech about fair pay, since the old rule against muzzling the animal that treads out the grain is quoted to argue that anyone who works deserves his wages.1Co 9:91Ti 5:18
Only the Greek word names animals as goods for sale, penned in the temple courts by traders and driven out together with the sheep and the money changers.Jhn 2:15
Both
Both name the same creature, the large domestic bovine that a household keeps and counts among its livestock, so the Greek word rendered "ox" is the natural counterpart to the Aramaic word rendered "bullock" wherever it stands in the Old Testament.Ezr 6:9Luk 14:19
Both belong to the temple and its offerings: the Aramaic word counts the bulls presented at the dedication of the house of God, and the Greek word names the oxen standing in the temple courts for that same purpose.Ezr 6:17Jhn 2:14
The Aramaic word belongs to official Persian paperwork: the animals a royal decree orders to be handed over day by day for the worship at Jerusalem, paid for out of the king's own funds.Ezr 6:9Ezr 7:17
It supplies the picture of a proud king reduced to a beast: driven away from people, Nebuchadnezzar feeds on grass as these animals do until he admits that God rules.Dan 4:25Dan 4:32Dan 5:21
What scholars say about bous
The lexica treat βοῦς as a single undivided word: BDAG glosses it "head of cattle, ox, cow," and LSJ likewise gathers bull, ox, and cow under one entry, the sex being fixed only by context or by a modifier. It is an inherited Indo-European animal name (cognate with Latin bos and English "cow"), and it is the standard Septuagint rendering both of Hebrew שׁוֹר ("a single head of cattle") and of the collective בָּקָר. All eight New Testament instances are literal references to cattle, so the exegetical discussion attaches not to the word's sense but to Paul's use of Deuteronomy 25:4 in 1 Corinthians 9:9 and its echo in 1 Timothy 5:18. Fee and Conzelmann take the rhetorical question μὴ τῶν βοῶν μέλει τῷ θεῷ as dismissing the literal referent in favour of an application to apostolic support, while Instone-Brewer and Thiselton argue for a reading from the smaller case to the greater that leaves the law's plain force intact.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. βοῦςlexicon
LSJ, s.v. βοῦςlexicon
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT), on 1 Corinthians 9:9commentary
Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 1 Corinthians 9:9commentary
David Instone-Brewer, "1 Corinthians 9.9-11: A Literal Interpretation of Do Not Muzzle the Ox", New Testament Studies 38 (1992)journal-article