Birds

How Nave’s arranged it

• Creation of, on the fifth creative dayGenesis 1:20–30
• Man's dominion overGenesis 1:26Genesis 1:28Genesis 9:2Genesis 9:3Psalms 8:5–8Jeremiah 27:6Daniel 2:38James 3:7
• Appointed for foodGenesis 9:2Genesis 9:3Deuteronomy 14:11–20
• What species were uncleanLeviticus 11:13–20Deuteronomy 14:12–19
• Used for sacifice
• See Dove
• See Pigeon
• Divine care ofJob 38:41Psalms 147:9Matthew 10:29Luke 12:6Luke 12:24
• Songs of, at the break of day So 2:12Psalms 104:12Ecclesiastes 12:4
• DomesticatedJob 41:5James 3:7
• Solomon's proverbs of1 Kings 4:33
• Nests ofPsalms 104:17Matthew 8:20Matthew 13:32

The passages, in Bible order (38)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 1:20–30

   And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Genesis 1:26

   Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 1:262 voices

   “In "academese" the wording of Genesis 1:26 is called the "plural of exhortation"-a fancy way of saying one person is announcing something to a group.

   “This same language was not used for (the creation) of other things. The command was simple when light was created; God said, "let there be light." Heaven was also made without deliberation.… These, though, were before (the creation of) humans. For humans, there was deliberation. He did not say, as he did when creating other things, "Let there be a human." See how worthy you are! Your origins are not in an imperative. Instead, God deliberated about the best way to bring to life a creation worthy of honor.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 1:26→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Genesis 1:28

   God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 1:281 voice

   “One is completely right to ask in what sense we should understand the union of male and female before sin, as well as the blessing that said "Increase and multiply, and generate and fill the earth." Should we understand it in a physical manner or spiritually? For we are permitted to understand it spiritually and to believe that it was changed into sexual fecundity after sin. For there was first the chaste union of male and female, of the former to rule, of the latter to obey, and there was the spiritual offspring of intelligible and immortal joys filling the earth, that is, giving life to the body and ruling it. That is, man so held [the body] subject that he experienced from it no opposition or trouble. We should believe that it was this way, since they were not yet children of this world before they sinned. For the children of this world generate and are generated, as the Lord says, when he shows that we should relatively disregard this carnal generation in comparison with the future life that is promised to us.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 1:28→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Genesis 9:2

   The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 9:21 voice

   “And the fear of you and the dread of you--The second part re-establishes man's dominion over the inferior animals; it was now founded not as at first in love and kindness, but in terror; this dread of man prevails among all the stronger as well as the weaker members of the animal tribes and keeps away from his haunts all but those employed in his service.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 9:2→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Genesis 9:3

   Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 9:32 voices

   “And He changed the food of men, giving them leave to eat flesh: for from Adam the first-formed until the Flood men ate only of seeds and the fruit of trees, and to eat flesh was not permitted to them.

   “Every moving thing - shall be meat - There is no positive evidence that animal food was ever used before the flood. Noah had the first grant of this kind, and it has been continued to all his posterity ever since. It is not likely that this grant would have been now made if some extraordinary alteration had not taken place in the vegetable world, so as to render its productions less nutritive than they were before; and probably such a change in the constitution of man as to render a grosser and higher diet necessary.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 9:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Leviticus 11:13–20

   Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 11:13–202 voices

   “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. Lev 11:13 The eagle - Rather, the great vulture, which the Egyptians are known to have ranked as the first among birds.

   “He adds too that they are not to eat "kite or mastophage or eagle," meaning "You shall not go near those who make their livelihood by plundering others." He says other similar things under some sort of allegory.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 11:13–20→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Deuteronomy 14:11–20

   You may eat any clean bird,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:11–201 voice

   “Of all clean birds ye shall eat. Which the Targum of Jonathan describes, everyone that has a craw, and whose crop is naked, and has a superfluous talon, and is not rapacious; but such as are unclean are expressed by name in the following verses, so that all except them might be reckoned clean and fit for food. Maimonides (p) observes, that only the number of the unclean are reckoned, so that all the rest are free. (p) Hilchot. Maacolot Asurot, c. 1. sect. 14.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 14:11–20→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Deuteronomy 14:12–19

   but these you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Deuteronomy 22:6

   If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:61 voice

   “These precepts are designed to cultivate a spirit of humanity. Compare Deu 25:4; Lev 22:28; and 1Co 9:9-10. Deu 22:8 The roofs of houses in Palestine were flat and used for various purposes. Compare Jos 2:6; 2Sa 11:2; Act 10:9, etc. A battlement was almost a necessary protection. It was to be, according to the rabbis, at least two cubits high (about 3 ft.).

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 22:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Deuteronomy 22:7

    You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

    ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:71 voice

    “Thou shalt - let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee - This passage may be understood literally. If they destroyed both young and old, must not the breed soon fail, and would it not in the end be ill with them; and by thus cutting off the means of their continual support, must not their days be shortened on the land? But we may look for a humane precept in this law.

    Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 22:7→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. 1 Kings 4:33

    He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

    ›Commentary on 1 Kings 4:332 voices

    “Trees - That is, of all plants, of their nature and qualities: all which discourses are lost, without any impeachment of the perfection of the holy scriptures; which were not written to teach men philosophy or physick, but only to make them wise unto salvation. From the cedar, &c. - That is, from the greatest to the least.

    “[Greek philosophers] took these ideas from Solomon, since it was long before them in age and time that he first gave these teachings through the Spirit of God. The Greeks have brought them forth as their own discoveries, and they have also included them in their books of instructions and left them to be handed down to their successors.

    Everything gathered on 1 Kings 4:33→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Job 38:41

    Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

    ›Commentary on Job 38:411 voice

    “Who provideth for the raven his food? - The same thought is expressed in Psa 147:9, He giveth to the beast his food, And to the young ravens which cry. Compare Mat 6:26. Scbeutzer (in loc.) suggests that the reason why the raven is specified here rather than other fowls is, that it is an offensive bird, and that God means to state that no object, however regarded by man, is beneath his notice. He carefully provides for the needs of all his creatures.

    Everything gathered on Job 38:41→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Job 39:13–18

    The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.

    ›Commentary on Job 39:13–182 voices

    “The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk. 11. Who can be ignorant how much the heron and the hawk surpass all other birds in the swiftness of their flight? But an ostrich has the likeness of their wing, but not the celerity of their flight. For it cannot in truth rise from the ground, and raises its wings, in appearance as if to fly, but yet never raises itself from the earth in flying.

    "Is it not like the quill and feathers of the pious bird" (the stork)? [UMBREIT]. The vibrating, quivering wing, serving for sail and oar at once, is characteristic of the ostrich in full course. Its white and black feathers in the wing and tail are like the stork's.

    Everything gathered on Job 39:13–18→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Job 39:26–30

    Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south?

    ›Commentary on Job 39:26–302 voices

    “Doth the hawk get feathers by thy wisdom, stretching her wings toward the South? 92. That the hawk casts off its old feathers every year, as the new grow up, and gets a plumage without intermission, hardly any one is ignorant. But that time of plumage, when it is clothed in the nest, is not here spoken of; because, namely, at that time, being doubtless yet but young, it is not able to stretch its wings towards the South. But that annual plumage is described, which is renewed, as the old feathers become loose.

    “Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom,.... With so much swiftness, steadiness, and constancy, until she has seized her prey. The Vulgate Latin version and some others read, "does she become feathered", or "begin to have feathers?" and so Bochart: either when first fledged; or when, as it is said (d) she casts her old feathers and gets new ones, and this every year. Now neither her flight nor her feathers, whether at one time or the other, are owing to men, but to the Lord, who gives both; and stretch her wings towards the south?

    Everything gathered on Job 39:26–30→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Job 41:5

    Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?

    ›Commentary on Job 41:52 voices

    “Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?.... In the hand or cage: leviathan plays in the sea, but there is no playing with him by land, Psa 104:26; or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? or young girls, as Mr. Broughton renders it; tie him in a string, as birds are for children to play with?

    “Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? - A bird that is tamed. The art of taming birds was doubtless early practiced, and they were kept for amusement. But the leviathan could not thus be tamed. Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? - For their amusement. For such purposes doubtless, birds were caught and caged. There is great force in this question, on the supposition that the crocodile is intended. Nothing could be more incongruous than the idea of securing so rough and unsightly a monster for the amusement of tender and delicate females.

    Everything gathered on Job 41:5→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Psalms 8:5–8

    You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 8:5–82 voices

    “In a modified sense, in his present fallen state, man is still invested with some remains of this original dominion. It is very evident, however, by the apostle's inspired expositions (Heb 2:6-8; 1Co 15:27, 28) that the language here employed finds its fulfilment only in the final exaltation of Christ's human nature.

    “But there follows concerning man in comparison to the angels, to whom man is found to be close. "You have diminished him." In the angels the image of God is found through a simple intuition of truth, without inquiry; but in man through discursive reasoning; …

    Everything gathered on Psalms 8:5–8→

    Verse page →Original language →