Bible Birds – Falcon

Peregrine Falcon by Ray

Peregrine Falcon by Ray

“And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind;” (Leviticus 11:13-14 NKJV)

The Falcon is mentioned in three verses in the New King James Version of the Bible. Leviticus 11:14; [above]; “the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds;” (Deuteronomy 14:13 NKJV); and “That path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.” (Job 28:7 NKJV)

Relocated Here

What Is A Gripe or An Aliet? – Do Not Eat List

Rock Kestrel (Falco rupicolus) ©WikiC

Here are two more birds that are listed on the “Do Not Eat” list. A Gripe and an Aliet.

Leviticus 11:13 These things be of (the) fowls which ye shall not eat, and shall be eschewed of you (and shall be shunned by you); an eagle, and a gripe, [and] an aliet,
Deuteronomy 14:12 (but) eat ye not unclean birds, that is, an eagle, and a gripe, and an aliet,
These verses are in the Wycliffe Bible (WYC) version. “The earliest existing edition is from 1525, but manuscripts of that only have a part of Matthew. Of the whole New Testament, the earliest manuscripts available are from 1526. Old Testament books are from later, 1530’s for some. This means that these two birds mentioned, the Gripe and the Aliet, were the names they were called by back then. Languages change over hundreds of years.

Interesting note about how these birds are listed in the “Do Not Eat List” Here is what the Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament says:

13-19 There was no easy rule of thumb for clean birds. A negative list is given that in cases is difficult to translate with certainty. The different modern versions vary in detail. In general carrion-eating and fish-eating birds were forbidden, just as they are not used for food today. Chickens are not mentioned in the OT. The eating of bird eggs and the mother bird together is forbidden in Deuteronomy 22:6, apparently for conservation reasons. If the eggs are taken, the mother bird will lay more; but if the mother bird is taken, there will be no more eggs! Doves, their eggs, and their young were eaten.

After doing some searching on Google, the Gripe doesn’t seem to be a recognizable bird today. When searching for the Aliet, After just about giving up, this interesting article was found:

Hearldry is a displaying of different Coats of Arms. The bird in on this Crest or Coat of Arms is the Aliet:

These verses in other translations indicate some type of birds of prey. That is what is article is saying also. If you can read the “old English”, notice that it mentions “This Fowl hath her Tallons or Pounces inwardly crooked like a hook.” That is a good description of a Hawk, Falcon, or some other type of bird of prey. “and is called in Latine [Latin], Falco (faith Calepine). Falco is the genus for Falcons and includes 15 Kestrels, 22 Falcons and 4 Hobbys.

It also mentions the “Alietus is a little Fowl that preyeth upon small birds…”

Peregrine Falcon on Watch! by Ray

Peregrine Falcon on Watch! by Ray

Falcons, Kestrels and Hobbies are part of the Falconidae Family.

  1. Nave’s Topical Bible – Falcon
  2. Falconiformes Order
  3. Bible Birds – Falcons
  4. See More Bible Birds
  5. ABC’s of the Gospel

 

Is A Porphyrion On The Do Not Eat List?

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) Cropped WikiC

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) Cropped WikiC

Is The Porphyrion On The Do Not Eat List? When the Birds of the Bible articles were written several years ago, I used my e-Sword program to search for the names of different species of birds on the “Do Not Eat List.” Now, the BibleGateway Bibles are also available for me to use. Time to check these new resources to see if any other name of bird is in one of their Bible translations.

I started with Leviticus 11:18 and Deuteronomy 14:17 [The beginning of the “Do Not Eat List” of birds] Looking through the list, Porphyrion caught my attention.

When I first started searching this word out on Google, here is what came up: “In Greek mythology, Porphyrion (Ancient Greek: Πορφυρίων) was one of the Gigantes (Giants)…” Whoa! That’s not a bird, but a Greek Mythology character, and not a very nice one. That is the reason for this title.

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) ©WikiC

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) ©WikiC

Ah! But further researching found that the Porphyrion is actually another name for the Swamphen. Notice the scientific name in the photo.

Porphyrio porphyrio. That is most likely why the Douay-Rheims 1899 [American edition DRA] translated it that way. They are the only English Bible that translates the bird this way.

They translated the two verses as:

“And the swan, and the bittern, and the porphyrion,” Leviticus 11:18 DRA

“And the cormorant, the porphyrion, and the night crow,” Deuteronomy 14:17 DRA
also
“and a dipper, a porphyrio, and a rearmouse, a cormorant,” WYC [Here’s a verse to check out :) ]

Purple Gallinule at Lake Hollingsworth by Lee

Here is a bit about this Swamphen family:

“Porphyrio is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called “purple gallinules”, and which are sometimes separated as genus Porphyrula or united with the gallinules proper (or “moorhens”) in Gallinula. The Porphyrio gallinules are distributed in the warmer regions of the world.

The genus Porphyrio was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) as the type species. The genus name Porphyrio is the Latin name for “swamphen”, meaning “purple“. [Wikipedia – Swamphen]

Purple Gallinule by Lee at Lake Parker 1-7-12

Purple Gallinule by Lee at Lake Parker 1-7-12

Searching this blog, there is a previous post written about the porphyrion or Swamphen in 2013. Birds of the Bible – Name Study – Swamphen or Waterhen
Stay tuned for more searches of the Birds of the Bible – Do Not Eat list!
[Yes, I believe in using the main translations of the Bible; like KJV, NKJV, and NASB, but these searches are for just finding different birds to write about. God created all the birds, and I find it interesting to see how these birds are translated.]

This is one of the reasons we post a Disclaimer about the different Bible versions.

Hoopoe – A Bible Bird

Hoopoe Feeding Young ©©Dvir Lotan from Israel

Hoopoe Feeding Young ©©Dvir Lotan from Israel

“The stork, all kinds of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.” (Leviticus 11:19 AMP)

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) by Nikhil Devasar

“The stork, the heron of any variety, the hoopoe, and the bat.” (Deuteronomy 14:18 AMP)

This bird is on the “Do Not Eat List.”

Bible Birds – Hoopoe