Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Gary Hedrick" <garyh AT cjfm.org>]

            What’s the difference between tsipor, or 9|5*7 (Gen. 7:14) and
oof, or 4|3 (Lev. 11:13)? Or are they synonymous?

            The KJV translators evidently saw oof as “fowl” (and indeed this
is what the Israelis today call chicken in the kitchen) and tsipor was a
bird. This is how they distinguish between the two in Gen. 7:14. The NIV, on
the other hand, has “bird” for oof and “every winged creature” for tsipor
kal canaph.

            In scanning the WWW for clues, I saw where many skeptics say
that the Bible mistakenly categorizes bats as “birds” in the Leviticus
passage. However, the rationale behind this criticism escapes me because in
modern Hebrew, the verbal form of oof is simply “to fly.” And a bat
certainly flies.

            So again, my question is, what distinction, if any, is there
between tsipor and oof?

 

Gary Hedrick

San Antonio, TX

 


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