Eagle

The eagle of Scripture (Hebrew nesher) most likely refers to the griffon vulture or great vulture rather than the true eagle, as the term was applied broadly to the largest soaring birds of Palestine. Several species are identified across the biblical text: the golden eagle, imperial eagle, osprey, and the griffon vulture, which nests in cliffs and circles at enormous heights. The bird's power and swiftness made it a standard metaphor in biblical poetry — military invasions strike like eagles (Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 49:22), and the LORD renews strength like the eagle's (Psalms 103:5; Isaiah 40:31).

Eagles were ceremonially unclean under Mosaic law (Leviticus 11:13) and are frequently used in prophetic imagery. Ezekiel employs the eagle twice in allegories for the Babylonian and Egyptian empires (Ezekiel 17). In the New Testament, the eagle appears in the apocalyptic imagery of Revelation 4:7 as one of the four living creatures, and Revelation 12:14 pictures the woman given eagle's wings in flight. The care of an eagle for its young — hovering, bearing them on its wings — is used to describe God's provision for Israel in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 32:11).