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In Leviticus 11, the list of unclean birds includes one likely referring to a heron, though its exact meaning is unknown. The Greek Septuagint translates it as “charadrios,” a bird whose identity is equally unclear and possibly mythical.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 11:19
Hebrew Bible
17 the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl, 18 the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 “‘Every winged swarming thing that walks on all fours is detestable to you. 21 However, this you may eat from all the winged swarming things that walk on all fours, which have jointed legs to hop with on the land.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Leviticus 11:19
Septuagint
17 and the night-raven and the cormorant and the ibis, 18 and the red-bill, and the pelican, and swan, 19 and the owl, and the heron, and the lapwing, and the like to it, and the hoopoe and the bat. 20 And all winged creatures that creep, which go upon four feet, are abominations to you. 21 But these you shall eat of the creeping winged animals, which go upon four feet, which have legs above their feet, to leap with on the earth.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... the identification of אנפה (anaphah, possibly "heron") remains very problematic, if not impossible. In the Septuagint of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, it is mainly rendered with χαραδριός (charadrios), a legendary bird whose identification is similarly unclear, and which may be a fantastic [mythological] bird. Overall, it is difficult to understand the logic of this final section, as well as the main features shared by the birds listed here. Driver argued that some or even most of them were fishing birds, yet apart from the case of the stork, this is not self-evident for other birds on the list. Furthermore, the identification of these birds often relies on conjectures based on ancient translations or zoological observations, which sometimes remain speculative ..."
Anna Angelini and Christophe Nihan, “Unclean Birds in the Hebrew and Greek Versions of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 39–68.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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