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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Bird
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BIRD.—1. In OT: (1) ‘ôph. tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘birds’ or ‘fowl.’ usually joined with ‘of heaven’ or ‘of the air’: see Gen_1:21; Gen_1:30, Lev_17:13, 2Sa_21:10, Jer_4:25, Eze_31:6; Eze_31:13 : (2) ‘ayit, usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘fowls’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) and ‘birds of prey’ (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ): Gen_15:11, Job_28:7, Isa_18:6, Eze_39:4; (3) tsippôr (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] asfûr). small birds like sparrows which twitter: Gen_7:14, Lev_14:6, Psa_84:3 etc.; (4) ba‘al kânâph, ‘possessor of a wing,’ Pro_1:17. 2. In NT: (1) peteina, Mat_13:4, Luk_13:19 etc. (2) ornea, ‘birds of prey,’ Rev_18:2; Rev_19:17; Rev_19:21.
Birds abound in Palestine, and evidently did so in ancient times. They were sympathetically watched and studied; we read, for example, of their migrations (Jer_8:7 etc.), their care of their young (Deu_32:11, Mat_23:37 etc.), the helplessness of their young (Pro_27:8, Isa_16:2 etc.), their nesting (Psa_104:12; Psa_104:17); indeed, every phase of bird life is touched upon. There are many references to the snares of the fowler (see Snares). Birds are divided into clean and unclean. In some cases they were allowed as sacrificial offerings (Lev_1:14-17; Lev_14:4-33). It is a curious thing that the duck is not apparently (unless, as some think, in 1Ki_4:23, under the ‘fatted fowl’—barburîm ’abûsîm) mentioned in the OT, although a beautifully modelled clay duck of an early period, certainly earlier than the OT records, was found during the recent excavations in Gezer. All birds mentioned by name in the Bible are dealt with in separate articles.
E. W. G. Masterman.