Bible Dictionaries
Raven

Raven — The Bible includes under this generic name a certain number of birds having more or less resemblance with the raven, such as the magpie, the jay, the jackdaw, the starling, etc. The raven, eight species of which are found in Israel, is by far the most common of all the birds of that country, where it is with buzzards, vultures, dogs, jackals, and hyenas, an active scavenger. Its plumage is glossy black, and its habits are frequently alluded to in Bible, for instance feeding on carcasses, wandering for its precarious meals, picking out the eyes of the newly dropped or weakly animals, resorting to desolate places, etc. The raven, when no other food is nigh, not infrequently picks out grains freshly sown; hence its surname of seed-picker, spermologos, which, later on became a synonym for ragamuffin. This name, applied to St. Paul by his sceptical listeners of Athens, has become, through a mistranslation, "word-sower" in our Bibles (Acts 17:18).

Verses:

• Genesis 8:7
• Leviticus 11:15
• Deuteronomy 14:14
• 1 Kings 17:4
• 1 Kings 17:6
• Job 38:41
• Psalms 147:9
• Proverbs 30:17
• Song of Solomon 5:11
• Isaiah 34:11
• Luke 12:24