A bird can be the small creature seen at a nest, the animal caught in a snare, or the point of comparison in a person's prayer. Deuteronomy's nest instruction distinguishes the mother from the young and places a limit on taking them together.
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Full entry for צִפּוֹר (H6833) · Open the biblical lexicon
A bird can be the small creature seen at a nest, the animal caught in a snare, or the point of comparison in a person's prayer. Deuteronomy's nest instruction distinguishes the mother from the young and places a limit on taking them together.
The BSB source-word alignment has 40 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include bird (9), like a bird (7), birds (4), The birds (3), Like birds (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 7:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (13), Psalms (7), Proverbs (4), Deuteronomy (3).
A bird can be the small creature seen at a nest, the animal caught in a snare, or the point of comparison in a person's prayer. Deuteronomy's nest instruction distinguishes the mother from the young and places a limit on taking them together. Psalm 84 notices a bird's home near the altars while expressing longing for the Lord's dwelling. Psalm 124 compares the community's escape with a bird released from a torn net.
These uses bring vulnerability, a place to dwell, and deliverance into focus through different scenes. They do not make every bird a symbol of one spiritual reality or identify one modern species wherever the noun occurs. The familiar creature serves the command or poem around it, helping readers attend to a small life and to the particular human experience the passage describes.
The nest law, the dwelling-place psalm, and the escaped-bird comparison give the noun distinct tasks. Careful reading distinguishes an actual creature from the human longing or deliverance pictured through it.
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.
The instruction concerns finding a nest with a mother and young or eggs; the following sentence distinguishes taking the young from releasing the mother.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God.
The bird's home near the altars appears within the worshiper's intense longing for the Lord's courts, giving the small nest a place in the psalm's dwelling imagery.
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.
The community likens its escape to a bird freed when the fowler's net is torn, and the next line identifies its help with the Lord who made heaven and earth.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Small bird characterized by hopping motion; used figuratively for vulnerability and divine care in Psalms
Small bird characterized by hopping motion; used figuratively for vulnerability and divine care in Psalms
a little bird (as hopping) BDB: bird Usage: bird, fowl, sparrow.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 40 lexical occurrence verses.
צִפּוֹר is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Small details can carry substantial weight when they remain attached to their passages. The mother in Deuteronomy's nest instruction is distinguished from the young instead of being swept into an unrestricted taking. The bird beside the altars in Psalm 84 becomes part of a worshiper's longing for the Lord's dwelling, while the torn net in Psalm 124 helps the community name its deliverance.
Psalm 102 uses a lone bird for a different experience, making solitude audible within lament. A teacher can appreciate these varied images without forcing one formula onto every creature. What deserves emphasis is the particular command, longing or thanksgiving that the bird makes visible. Matthew's later sparrow assurance likewise depends on Jesus' words about the Father's care, rather than on a claim that birds intrinsically guarantee physical safety.
Ps.124.7
The Hebrew bird noun has a range wider than one English species name. A translation's sparrow wording may clarify a particular verse without proving that every nest, ritual bird, or poetic comparison uses an identical modern classification.
Jesus' sparrow words in Matthew 10 give an explicit assurance of the Father's care to disciples facing opposition. They share concern for small creatures with the selected Old Testament passages, but the different Greek term and commissioning context prevent a simple equation of every bird image.