Leviticus 11:16
in Leviticus 11the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind,
KJV
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
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This verse in Leviticus 11
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe owl - בת היענה bath haiyaanah, the daughter of vociferation, the female ostrich, probably so called from the noise they make. “In the lonesome part of the night,” says Dr. Shaw, “the ostriches frequently make a very doleful and hideous noise, sometimes resembling the roar of the lion; at other times, the hoarser voice of the bull or ox.” He adds, “I have heard them groan as if in the deepest agonies.” - Travels, 4th edition, p. 4
This site's exposition
which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls
on Leviticus 11:13-23
For the fowls the chapter drops the test and gives a bare list, twenty names and no criterion, so a reader learns which birds are excluded without learning what excludes them. Several of the names are argued over in translation, and the older English renderings of cuckow, swan and lapwing are read now as the gull, the water hen and the hoopoe. The Hebrew word covers winged creatures rather than a modern class, which is why the bat closes the list at verse 19. Verses 21 and 22 hold the one permission in the chapter granted out of an abominable class, four kinds of locust with legs above their feet to leap withal, and Mark 1:6 has John the Baptist living on them.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the owl,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the owl--It is generally supposed the ostrich is denoted by the original word. the nighthawk--a very small bird, with which, from its nocturnal habits, many superstitious ideas were associated. the cuckoo--Evidently some other bird is meant by the original term, from its being ranged among rapacious birds.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
No less than twenty species of birds, all probably then known, are mentioned under this category, and the inference follows that all which are not mentioned were allowed; that is, fowls which subsist on vegetable substances.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֵת֙ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בַּ֣ת | bat | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| הַֽיַּעֲנָ֔ה | haiyaanah | the ostrich | H3284 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַתַּחְמָ֖ס | hatachmas | the screech owl | H8464 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַשָּׁ֑חַף | hashachaf | the gull | H7828 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנֵּ֖ץ | hanetz | the falcon | H5322 → | |
| לְמִינֵֽהוּ׃ | leminehu | to kind its | H4327 → | 31 times |
וְאֵת֙and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
בַּ֣ת[the] daughter of
batH1323 →588 times
הַֽיַּעֲנָ֔הthe ostrich
haiyaanahH3284 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַתַּחְמָ֖סthe screech owl
hatachmasH8464 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַשָּׁ֑חַףthe gull
hashachafH7828 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַנֵּ֖ץthe falcon
hanetzH5322 →
לְמִינֵֽהוּ׃to kind its
leminehuH4327 →31 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 102:6I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 2:14
Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie…
- Isaiah 38:14
I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Revelation 18:2
And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable…
- Job 30:29–30
I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
- Isaiah 34:11–15
The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb…
- Zephaniah 2:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.