Kânâph (כָּנָף, Strong's #3671), “wing.” The Hebrew word is represented in Semitic languages (Ugaritic, Akkadian, Aramaic, Syriac, and Arabic) and in Egyptian. Kânâph has maintained its meaning in rabbinic and modern Hebrew.

In the Old Testament kânâph occurs first in the Creation account: “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:21; cf. Ps. 78:27). In the biblical usage the idiom “every bird wing” denotes the class of birds; cf. “They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort” (Gen. 7:14). This phrase is translated in the KJV, “any winged fowl” (Deut. 4:17; cf. NASB, “any winged bird that flies in the sky”).

The word “wing” appears 109 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, with particular concentration in the description of the 2 cherubim of wood in Solomon’s temple and in Ezekiel’s vision of the “creatures,” or cherubim. Elsewhere the Bible speaks of “wings” of the cherubim (Exod. 25:20; 37:9) and of the seraphim (Isa. 6:2).

As an extension of the usage “wing,” kânâph signifies “extremity.” The seam or lower part of a garment was known as the kânâph. In the “fold” (kânâph; KJV, “skirt”) of the garment one could carry things (Hag. 2:12). Saul tore the edge (kânâph; KJV, “skirt”) of Samuel’s robe (1 Sam. 15:27). The extremity of a land on the world was also known by the word kânâph and is translated by “corner” in English: “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:12; cf. Job 37:3; 38:13; Ezek. 7:2). In the metaphorical use God is said to protect His people as a bird protects her young with her “wings” (Deut. 32:11). The psalmist expressed God’s care and protection as a “shadow” of the “wings” (Ps. 17:8; cf. 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4). In keeping with this usage Malachi looked forward to a new age, when “the Sun of righteousness [will] arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall” (4:2).

When the nations are compared to birds, the association is that of terror and conquest. This is best expressed in Ezekiel’s parable of the two eagles and the vine: “And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: he cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants” (Ezek. 17:3-4). The believer is enjoined to seek refuge with God when adversity strikes him or adversaries surround him: “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shall thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” Ps. 91:4)

The Septuagint gives the following translations: pteruks (“wing; pinion”); pterugion (“end; edge”); and pteroros (“feathered; winged”) The KJV gives these senses: “wing; skirt; border; corner.”

Bibliography Information
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Wing'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/w/wing.html. 1940.

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