Bible Dictionary
PRICK
A prick is a thorn, sharp point, or goad. Figuratively, resisting God is compared with kicking against goads, while people may be pricked in heart through conviction of sin.
Definition
A prick is a thorn, sting, sharp point, or iron goad. As a verb, to prick means to pierce or sting, literally or figuratively.
Biblical Usage
Pricks may represent painful trouble. Kicking against goads pictures vain and perilous resistance, while being pricked in heart describes inner conviction and distress.
Historical Background
Different Hebrew and Greek terms underlie the English word. One refers to a thorn, another to an iron goad, and another to piercing or sharp inward pain.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>prik: As a noun (= any slender pointed thing, a thorn, a sting) it translates two words:</p><p>(1) sekh, a "thorn" or "prickle." Only in Nu 33:55, "those that ye let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes," i.e. "shall be a source of painful trouble to you."</p><p>(2) kentron "an iron goad" for urging on oxen and other beasts of burden: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (the King James Version of Ac 9:5, where the Revised Version (British and American) omits the whole phrase, following the best manuscripts, including Codices Sinaiticus, A, B, C, E; the King James Version of Ac 26:14, where the Revised Version (British and American) has "goad," margin "Greek: `goads' "), i.e. to offer vain and perilous resistance. See GOAD. As a verb (= "to pierce with something sharply pointed," "to sting"), it occurs once in its literal sense: "a pricking brier" (Eze 28:24); and twice in a figurative sense: "I was pricked in my heart" (Ps 73:21); "They were pricked in their heart" (Ac 2:37, katanusso, Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) compungo; compare English word "compunction").</p><p>D. Miall Edwards</p>