Swallow

The swallow (Hebrew: sis or deror) was a familiar migratory bird of Palestine, returning each spring in large numbers. The swift (which some identify with sis) and the swallow both appear in Scripture as emblems of the seasonal regularity of creation (Jer. 8:7) — their faithful return each spring contrasted with Israel's failure to return to God. Hezekiah, in his illness, likens his moaning to the chattering of the swallow (Isa. 38:14).

The Psalmist's longing for the swallow's freedom is expressed in Psalm 84:3: "Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God" — the bird's instinctive homing to the sanctuary becoming a figure for the believer's longing to dwell in God's house. The swallow's darting, agile flight also appears in the simile of Proverbs 26:2: "as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come."