📖 Biblical Definition
The horn is Scripture's concentrated symbol of power, divine strength, and royal anointing. Altars had horns projecting from their corners (Ex 27:2, 30:2); blood was smeared on them in atonement; fugitives grabbed them for sanctuary. Anointing oil was poured from a horn over the heads of kings (1 Sam 16:1, 13). "The LORD is the horn of my salvation" (Ps 18:2) — God Himself is our strength. Daniel's visions of world empires feature horns representing kings and kingdoms rising and being broken. The Messiah is called "a horn of salvation in the house of his servant David" (Luke 1:69) in Zechariah's prophecy. When Scripture says "God exalts the horn" of His people, it means He lifts their power, dignity, and strength.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
HORN, n.
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HORN, n. [Sax. horn.] (1.) A hard excrescence growing on the heads of certain animals, as cattle, goats, and rams, and used as a weapon. (2.) A projecting corner, as of an altar. (3.) A vessel made of horn, or of a horn-like shape, especially the vessel for anointing oil. (4.) A wind-instrument, originally made of an animal's horn; the shofar of the Hebrews. (5.) Figuratively, strength, power, glory. In Scripture, the horn is everywhere a symbol: the horns of the altar for atonement and sanctuary; the horn of anointing oil for kings; the horn as the raised emblem of a man's strength and honor; the horn of salvation, even the Messiah Himself, raised up in David's house to conquer all enemies.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 18:2 — "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."
Luke 1:69 — "And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David."
1 Samuel 16:13 — "Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers."
Exodus 27:2 — "And you shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The biblical horn concentrates ideas — altar, sanctuary, anointing, strength, Messiah — and the modern reader misses the layered allusion every time.
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When Zechariah the priest, filled with the Holy Spirit at the birth of his son, prophesies that God has "raised up a horn of salvation" in the house of David (Luke 1:69), every phrase is loaded. "Raised up" echoes the resurrection and the enthronement of the Davidic king. "Horn of salvation" echoes Psalm 18, the altar horns, the anointing-oil horn, and the prophetic expectation of a strong deliverer. "In the house of His servant David" echoes 2 Samuel 7 and the covenant promise. The modern reader, untrained in OT imagery, hears a vague religious phrase and moves on. Recover the horn and you recover the compressed theology of dozens of OT passages converging on Christ.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H7161 — qeren (קֶרֶן) — horn.
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H7161 — qeren (קֶרֶן) — horn; literal, architectural, instrumental, and metaphorical.
G2768 — keras (κέρας) — horn; used of the Messianic horn of salvation in Luke 1:69 and of the horns of the apocalyptic beasts in Revelation.
Usage
"God raises the horn of the righteous and cuts off the horn of the wicked. Power in the kingdom flows toward humility."
"The Messiah is the horn of David's house — the concentrated strength of God thrust into history for salvation."