What is the…
“cuckoo” bird mentioned in the King James translation of Leviticus
also known as: cuckow
Hebrew: שַׁחַף —transliteration: shachaph —from a root word meaning “to be lean; slender”
The shachaph is mentioned only in Leviticus 11:16 and Deuteronomy 14:15. The King James Version translated this word as “cuckoo” which is probably incorrect. Also, this bird is uncommon in Israel.
Whatever bird is referred to, God told the Israelites not to eat it; it is judged as unclean for the Israelites diet.
King James Version…
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, —Leviticus 11:16 KJV
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, —Deuteronomy 14:15 KJV
The cuckoo’s “food is not repulsive in any species; there never was any reason why they should have been classed among the abominations, and for these reasons scientists in search of a “lean, slender” bird of offensive diet and habit have selected the “sea-mew” [seagull] which is substituted for cuckoo in the Revised Version (British and American) with good natural-history reason to sustain the change.” —Gene Stratton-Porter, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Cuckow, Cuckoo
We believe the word shachaph most likely refers to a gull (aka seagull, seamew), a much more common bird in Israel and the lands of the Mediterranean. This is in agreement with Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and almost all modern Bible translations which say “gull” or “sea gull.”
The Legacy Standard Bible translates shachaph as “gull.”
“These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard… and the gull and the hawk in its kind,” —Leviticus 11:13-16 LSB excerpt
More information
- About birds in the Bible
- Clean and unclean
- Foods of the Bible
- About eating in the Bible