Leviticus 11:17
in Leviticus 11the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
KJV
And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
⋯
This verse in Leviticus 11
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe 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. 2
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 little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The common barn owl, which is well known in the East. It is the only bird of its kind here referred to, although the word is thrice mentioned in our version. cormorant--supposed to be the gull. [See on De 14:17.] the great owl--according to some, the Ibis of the Egyptians. It was well known to the Israelites, and so rendered by the Septuagint (De 14:16;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַכּ֥וֹס | hakos | the little owl | H3563 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַשָּׁלָ֖ךְ | hashalakh | the cormorant | H7994 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַיַּנְשֽׁוּף׃ | haiyanshuf | the great owl | H3244 → |
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַכּ֥וֹסthe little owl
hakosH3563 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַשָּׁלָ֖ךְthe cormorant
hashalakhH7994 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַיַּנְשֽׁוּף׃the great owl
haiyanshufH3244 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
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.