the Second Week after Easter
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New King James Version
Leviticus 11:17
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the kos, the shalakh, the yanshuf,
And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl,
little owls, cormorants, great owls,
the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl,
the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, and the great owl,
The litle owle also, and the connorant, and the great owle.
and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
and the owl, and the gannet, and the ibis,
owls, cormorants, great owls,
the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,
And the stork, the bee eater,
little owls, cormorants,
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the eared owl;
the litle Oule, the Storke, the greate Oule,
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
And the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl;
The Falcon, the Cormorant, the great Owle,
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl;
And the little Owle, and the Cormorant, and the great Owle,
and the night-raven and the cormorant and the stork,
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl;
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
an owle, and dippere, and ibis;
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, the big owl,
the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
and the pelican and the gannet, and the bittern;
The screech owl, and the cormorant, and the ibis.
the owl, the cormorant, the ibis,
and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl. Ainsworth translates the words just the reverse, and takes the first word to signify the great owl, and the last the little one; the great owl may intend the great horn owl, called sometimes the eagle owl, which is thus described; it is of the size of a goose, and has large wings, capable of extending to a surprising breadth: its head is much of the size and figure of that of a cat, and has clusters of black feathers over the ears, rising to three fingers' height; its eyes are very large, and the feathers of its rump long, and extremely soft; its eyes have yellow irises, and its beak black and crooked: it is all over mottled with white, reddish, and black spots; its legs are very strong, and are hairy down to the very ends of the toes, their covering being of a whitish brown g: and as this is called the great horn owl, others, in comparison of it, may be called the little owl. Some reckon several species of owls--there are of three sizes; the large ones are as big as a capon, the middle sized are as big as a wood pigeon, the smaller sort about the size of an ordinary pigeon--the horned owl is of two kinds, a larger and a smaller--the great owl is also of two sorts, that is, of a larger and a smaller kind h; it is a bird sacred to Minerva: but though it is pretty plain that the last of the words used signifies a bird that flies in the twilight of the evening, from whence it seems to have its name, as Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom, and other Jewish writers observe, and fitly agrees with the owl which is not seen in the day, but appears about that time; yet the first is thought by Bochart i to be the "onocrotalus" or "pelican", which has under its bill a bag or sack, which will hold a large quantity of anything; and the word here used has the signification of a cup or vessel, see
Psalms 102:6. The word we render "cormorant", the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it, a drawer of fish out of the sea, so Baal Hatturim; and thus it is interpreted in the Talmud k; and the gloss upon it says, this is the water raven, which is the same with the cormorant; for the cormorant is no other than "corvus aquaticus", or water raven; Psalms 102:6- :. The Septuagint render it by "catarrhactes", which, according to the description of it l, resides by rocks and shores that hang over water; and when it sees fishes swimming in it, it will fly on high, and contract its feathers, and flounce into the water, and fetch out the fish; and so is of the same nature, though not the same creature with the cormorant. Aben Ezra observes, that some say this is a bird which casts its young as soon as born; and this is said of the "catarrhactes", that it lets down its young into the sea, and draws them out again, and hereby inures them to this exercise m.
g Ray's Ornithol. p. 63. apud Supplement to Chambers's Dictionary in the word "Bubo". h Calmet's Dictionary in the word "Owl". i Ut supra, (Apud Bochard. Heirozoic. par. 2. l. 2.) c. 20. col. 275. k Bab. Cholin, fol. 63. 1. l Gesner. apud Bochart. ut supra, (i) c. 21. col. 278. m Ibid.
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 11:17. The little owl — כוס cos, the bittern, night-raven or night-owl, according to most interpreters. Some think the onocrotalus or pelican may be intended; for as the word כוס cos signifies a cup in Hebrew, and the pelican is remarkable for a pouch or bag under the lower jaw, it might have had its Hebrew name from this circumstance; but the kaath in the following verse is rather supposed to mean this fowl, and the cos some species of the bubo or owl. See Bochart, vol. iii., col. 272.
The cormorant — שלך shalach, from the root which signifies to cast down; hence the Septuagint καταρρακτης, the cataract, or bird which falls precipitately down upon its prey. It probably signifies the plungeon or diver, a sea fowl, which I have seen at sea dart down as swift as an arrow into the water, and seize the fish which it had discovered while even flying, or rather soaring, at a very great height.
The great owl — ינשוף yanshuph, according to the Septuagint and the Vulgate, signifies the ibis, a bird well known and held sacred in Egypt. Some critics, with our translation, think it means a species of owl or night bird, because the word may be derived from נשף nesheph, which signifies the twilight, the time in which owls chiefly fly about. See Bochart, vol. iii., col. 281.
