Owl

Several Hebrew words are translated owl in English versions, covering a range of nocturnal birds. The owls mentioned in the unclean bird lists of Leviticus 11:16–18 and Deuteronomy 14:15–17 include the little owl (kos) and the great owl (yanshuf). The mournful cry of the owl and its association with ruins and desolation make it a powerful prophetic symbol: Isaiah 13:21; 34:11, 13–15; Jeremiah 50:39; and Micah 1:8 all use owls among the wild inhabitants of desolate Babylon or Samaria. Psalm 102:6 uses the solitary owl of the wilderness as a metaphor for the psalmist's lonely grief: I am like an owl of the waste places.