Bittern

Bittern is the rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew word qippod (or qippoz), appearing three times in prophetic oracles of desolation against Babylon, Idumea (Edom), and Nineveh. The precise identification of the bird is debated: the Revised Version renders it as porcupine or hedgehog in some passages, while others maintain the bittern—a large, solitary marsh bird known for its booming call—as a plausible rendering. Modern translations vary considerably between bittern, hedgehog, owl, and other creatures.

Whatever the specific animal, the function in all three passages is consistent: the creature is a symbol of desolate, uninhabited wasteland. When Isaiah announces the coming destruction of Babylon, he declares that bitterns will possess its pools and that God will sweep it with the besom of destruction. In Isaiah 34, the similar oracle against Idumea presents a gallery of desert creatures—pelicans, ravens, owls, jackals, and bitterns—inhabiting the ruined land. Zephaniah's oracle against Nineveh likewise populates its ruins with this creature. The prophetic imagination uses the appearance of wilderness animals in formerly populous cities as the most vivid possible image of complete divine judgment.