Horns of Mosesʹ Face

This is a mere blunder. The Hebrew karan means “to shoot out beams of light,” but has by mistake been translated in some versions “to wear horns.” Thus Moses is conventionally represented with horns. “Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone” (Exod. xxxiv. 29); compare 2 Cor. iii. 7–13: “The children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance.”

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.