Goad
Human-made Things in the Bible
The goad was a stick, sometimes tipped with a metal point (darvan), used in driving draft animals or herds of domestic animals, such as sheep. The goad had to be long enough to reach the animal from the driver’s position, thus 1-2 meters (3-6 feet).
How it was used
The driver of a cart or other load stuck the point of the goad into the buttocks of an animal that was not pulling hard enough or in the right direction. The pain stimulus caused the animal to move or change direction.
In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
דָּרְבָן darvan · 2 verses
מַלְמַד malmad · 1 verse
κέντρον kentron · 4 verses
Also in Agriculture and farming
Sources
Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema