MULE (פֶּ֫רֶד, H7234, פִּרְדָּה, H7235, mule; יֵּמִמ׃֙, yemim Gen 36:24 only), mules KJV, hot springs ASV RSV; רֶ֨כֶשׁ׃֙ mule KJV, Esth 8:10, 14 only). The KJV tr. cannot be correct: better tr. steed. The mule is a hybrid, the offspring of a donkey and a horse. Mules are sterile; the few records of fertile mules, mostly old, are not generally accepted. The reverse cross, by stallion and a donkey mare, is called a hinny; this is much less useful and rarely made. The mule combines some of the size and strength of the horse with the patience, surefootedness and endurance of the donkey, and can work efficiently in country too hard for horses. The Israelites were specifically forbidden to breed such hybrids (Lev 19:19) and mules were regularly imported from countries that specialized in this work (e.g. 1 Kings 10:25). They were highly regarded and their use in the OT is largely confined to the nobility: e.g., they first appear in 2 Samuel 13:29, ridden by Solomon’s sons. The one possible exception is Ezra 2:66, repeated in Nehemiah 7:68, where 245 mules were part of the transport bringing back the exiles to Judah. The mule’s stubbornness is proverbial today but this is referred to only once (Ps 32:9), where it is classed with the horse as lacking understanding.