What is a…
goad in the Bible

Hebrew: malmad, only in Judges 3:31

a tool used by plowmen for guiding their oxen

Shamgar killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad. “The goad is a formidable weapon. It is sometimes ten feet long, and has a sharp point. We could now see that the feat of Shamgar was not so very wonderful as some have been accustomed to think.”

In 1 Samuel 13:21, a different Hebrew word is used, dorban, meaning something pointed. The expression (Acts 9:5, omitted in the Revised King James Version), “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,” i.e., against the goad, was proverbial for unavailing resistance to superior power.