The line "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is from Acts 9:5 (King James Version). The apostle Paul also refers to the time when he was knocked to the ground by a voice from heaven in Acts 26:14. It reads, "And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech here reads, "You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad." Saul had been hunting and killing Christians and was now being called to reform by Jesus, an appropriate story reference within the Judgment Day context of "The Man Comes Around."
A large percentage of people in the first century were tillers of the soil. Oxen were used to work the soil. The prick or goad was a necessary devise. The prick was usually a wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at one end. The man working the ox would position the goad in such a way as to exert influence and control over the ox. You see, if the ox refused the command indicated by the farmer, the goad would be used to jab or prick the ox. Sometimes the ox would refuse this incentive by kicking out at the prick. As result, the prick would be driven deeper into the flesh of the rebellious animal. The more the animal rebelled, the more the animal suffered. Hence, the statement to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Saul was rebelling against God.)
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The line "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is from Acts 9:5 (King James Version). The apostle Paul also refers to the time when he was knocked to the ground by a voice from heaven in Acts 26:14. It reads, "And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech here reads, "You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad." Saul had been hunting and killing Christians and was now being called to reform by Jesus, an appropriate story reference within the Judgment Day context of "The Man Comes Around."
A large percentage of people in the first century were tillers of the soil. Oxen were used to work the soil. The prick or goad was a necessary devise. The prick was usually a wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at one end. The man working the ox would position the goad in such a way as to exert influence and control over the ox. You see, if the ox refused the command indicated by the farmer, the goad would be used to jab or prick the ox. Sometimes the ox would refuse this incentive by kicking out at the prick. As result, the prick would be driven deeper into the flesh of the rebellious animal. The more the animal rebelled, the more the animal suffered. Hence, the statement to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Saul was rebelling against God.)
Source: biblequestions.org/Archives/BQAR075.htm