A pole or stick with a sharp metal point, used to prick oxen while plowing. Reference is made to it in Acts 9: 5. Judg. 3: 31 records that Shamgar slew 600 men with his ox goads. After entering Canaan, the Israelites employed the Philistine metal smiths to sharpen their goads and other tools (1 Sam. 13: 19-21). Words of counsel from the wise are goads to right conduct in Eccl. 12: 11.