Leviticus 11:18

Christian Standard Bible ®

barn owls, eagle owls,

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

King James Version
And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,

Lexham English Bible
and the barn owl and the desert owl and the carrion vulture,

New Century Version
white owls, desert owls, ospreys,

New English Translation
the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey,

Amplified Bible
the white owl, the pelican, the carrion vulture,

New American Standard Bible
the white owl, the pelican, and the carrion vulture,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Also the redshanke and the pelicane, and the swanne:

Legacy Standard Bible
and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture,

Complete Jewish Bible
the horned owl, the pelican, the barn owl,

Darby Translation
and the swan, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture,

Easy-to-Read Version
water hens, pelicans, carrion vultures,

English Standard Version
the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture,

George Lamsa Translation
And the swan and the hoopoe after their kind,

Literal Translation
and the barn owl, and the pelican and the owl-vulture;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
ye Backe, the Pellycane, the Swanne, the Pye,

American Standard Version
and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture,

Bible in Basic English
And the water-hen and the pelican and the vulture;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The Backe, the Pellicane, the Pye,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the carrion-vulture;

King James Version (1611)
And the Swanne, and the Pellicane, and the Gier-eagle,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and the red-bill, and the pelican, and swan,

English Revised Version
and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture;

Berean Standard Bible
the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
a swan and cormoraunt, and a pellican;

Young's Literal Translation
and the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,

Update Bible Version
and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture,

Webster's Bible Translation
And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier-eagle,

World English Bible
the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

New King James Version
the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture;

New Living Translation
the barn owl, the desert owl, the Egyptian vulture,

New Life Bible
the white owl, the pelican, the vulture that eats dead flesh,

New Revised Standard
the water hen, the desert owl, the carrion vulture,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and the swan and the vomiting pelican and the little vulture;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the swan, and the bittern, and the porphyrion.

Revised Standard Version
the water hen, the pelican, the carrion vulture,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture,

Contextual Overview

⁹“This is what you may eat from all that is in the water: You may eat everything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or streams. ¹⁰But these are to be abhorrent to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales among all the swarming things and other living creatures in the water. ¹¹They are to remain abhorrent to you; you must not eat any of their meat, and you must abhor their carcasses. ¹²Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales will be abhorrent to you. ¹³“You are to abhor these birds. They must not be eaten because they are abhorrent: ¹⁴kites, ¹⁵every kind of raven, ¹⁶ostriches, ¹⁷little owls, cormorants, ¹⁸barn owls, eagle owls,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Luke 3:35
son of Serug,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the swan,.... This is a bird well known to us, but it is a question whether it is intended by the word here used; for though it is so rendered in the Vulgate Latin, it is differently rendered by many others: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it "otia", which seems to be the same with the "otus" of Aristotle n, who says it is like an owl, having a tuft of feathers about its ears (from whence it has its name); and some call it "nycticorax", or the owl; and here, by Bochart o, and others, the owl called "noctua" is thought to be meant; and with which agrees the account some Jewish writers give of it, as Aben Ezra and Baal Hatturim, who say it is a bird, which every one that sees is astonished at it, as other birds are at the owl, are frightened at the sight of it, and stupefied. But as the same word is used Leviticus 11:30 among the creeping things, for a mole, what Jarchi observes is worthy of consideration, that this is "calve (chauve) souris" (the French word for a bat), and is like unto a mouse, and flies in the night; and that which is spoken of among the creeping things is like unto it, which hath no eyes, and they call it "talpa", a mole. The Septuagint version renders it by "porphyrion", the redshank; and so Ainsworth; and is thought to be called by the Hebrew name in the text, from the blowing of its breath in drinking; for it drinks biting, as Aristotle says p:

and the pelican; which has its name in Hebrew from vomiting; being said by Aben Ezra and Baal Hatturim to be a bird that vomits its food; and it is observed by several naturalists q, of the pelican, that it swallows down shellfish, and after they have lain some time in its stomach, it vomits them up again; where having been heated, the shells open, and it picks out the meat:

and the gier eagle; or vulture eagle, the "gypoeetos" of Aristotle r, and who says it is called also "oripelargos", or the mountain stork; and which Pliny s also makes to be an eagle of the vulture kind. Dr. Shaw says t, that near Cairo there are several flocks of the "ach bobba" (white father, differing little from the stork but in its colour), the "percnopterus" or "oripelargos", which like the ravens about London feed upon carrion, and nastiness that is thrown without the city; this the Arabs call "rachama", the same with רחם,

Leviticus 11:18 and רחמה in Deuteronomy 14:17 and whatever bird is here meant, it must be one that is tender toward its young, as its name signifies, as Aben Ezra and Baal Hatturim observe; and though both the eagle and the vulture are rapacious birds, yet have a great regard to their young; of the eagle see Deuteronomy 32:11 and the vulture, with the Egyptians, was an "hieroglyphic" of a tender mother, or any merciful person; it being reported of it, that during the one hundred twenty days its young are under its care, it very rarely flies from them, being so solicitous of nourishing them; and that by making incisions in its thigh, it lets out a bloody flow of milk, when it has nothing else to support them u. The Talmudists w say, that the bird "racham", as it is here called, is the same with "serakrak", and is by the Targum of Jonathan, and in the Syriac version, here rendered "serakraka", so called from שרק, which signifies to "squall"; and, according to Munster x, is thought by some to be the "pica", magpie, or rather the jay; and Dr. Shaw y observes, that by a small transmutation of letters, that and the "shagarag" of the Arabs are the same; which he says is of the size and shape of a jay, though with a smaller bill, and shorter legs; the back is brownish; the head, neck, and belly, of a light green; and upon the wings and tail there are several spots or ringlets of a deep blue; it makes a "squalling" noise; and, he adds, it has no small affinity both in voice and plumage with the jay. The Septuagint version renders the word by the "swan"; which if not intended by the first word in this text, may by this, being kind to its young, though otherwise reckoned a cruel and unmerciful bird, as Bochart z observes; some think the woodpecker is meant, so called from its love to its parents a.

n Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 12. Vid. Plin. l. 10. c. 23. o Ut supra, (Apud Bochard Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2.) c. 23. p Ut supra, (Hist. Animal. l. 8.) c. 6. so Plin. l. 10. c. 46. q Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 10. Aelian. de Animal. l. 3. c. 20, Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 40. r Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 32. s Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 3. t Travels, p. 449. Ed. 2. u Horns Apollo & Pisidas apud Bochart. ut supra, (o) c. 27. col. 388. w T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 63. 1. x Dictionar. Chald. p. 4. 18. y Travels, p. 183. z Ut supra (o), c. 25. col. 300. a Plin. l. 10. c. 33.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As far as they can be identified, the birds here mentioned are such as live upon animal food. They were those which the Israelites might have been tempted to eat, either from their being easy to obtain, or from the example of other nations, and which served as types of the entire range of prohibited kinds.

Leviticus 11:13

The eagle - Rather, the great vulture, which the Egyptians are known to have ranked as the first among birds. Compare 2 Samuel 1:23; Psalms 103:5; Proverbs 23:5, etc.

The Ossifrage, or bone-breaker, was the lammer-geyer, and the “ospray” (a corruption of ossifrage) the sea-eagle.

Leviticus 11:14

The vulture - Rather, the (black) kite Isaiah 34:15 : “the kite,” rather the red kite, remarkable for its piercing sight Job 28:7.

Leviticus 11:15

Every raven after his kind - i. e. the whole family of corvidae.

Leviticus 11:16

And the owl ... - Rather, “and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk,” etc.

Leviticus 11:18

The swan - More probably the ibis, the sacred bird of the Egyptians. “The gier eagle” is most likely the Egyptian vulture, a bird of unprepossessing appearance and disgusting habits, but fostered by the Egyptians as a useful scavenger.

Leviticus 11:19

The heron ... the lapwing - Rather, the great plover the hoopoe, so called from its peculiar cry.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 11:18. The swan — תנשמת tinshemeth. The Septuagint translate the word by πορφυριωνα, the porphyrion, purple or scarlet bird. Could we depend on this translation, we might suppose the flamingo or some such bird to be intended. Some suppose the goose to be meant, but this is by no means likely, as it cannot be classed either among ravenous or unclean fowls. Bochart thinks the owl is meant.

The pelican — קאת kaath. As קאת kaah signifies to vomit up, the name is supposed to be descriptive of the pelican, who receives its food into the pouch under its lower jaw, and, by pressing it on its breast with its bill, throws it up for the nourishment of its young. Hence the fable which represents the pelican wounding her breast with her bill, that she might feed her young with her own blood; a fiction which has no foundation but in the above circumstance. Bochart thinks the bittern is meant, vol. iii., col. 292.

The gier eagle — רחם racham. As the root of this word signifies tenderness and affection, it is supposed to refer to some bird remarkable for its attachment to its young; hence some have thought that the pelican is to be understood. Bochart endeavours to prove that it means the vulture, probably that species called the golden vulture. - Bochart, vol. iii., col. 303.