What is a…
ferret in the Bible
Leviticus 11:30 (Revised King James Version, “gecko”)
one of the unclean creeping things
It was perhaps the Lacerta gecko which was intended by the Hebrew word (anakah, a cry, “mourning,” the creature which groans) here used, i.e., the “fan-footed” lizard, the gecko which makes a mournful wail.
The Septuagint (LXX) translate it by a word meaning “shrew-mouse,” of which there are three species in Israel. The Rabbinical writers regard it as the hedgehog. The translation of the Revised King James Version is to be preferred.