20 Bible Verses about Owls
Isaiah 34:11 ESV / 28 helpful votes
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.
Psalm 102:6 ESV / 23 helpful votes
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places;
Leviticus 11:17 ESV / 15 helpful votes
The little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl,
Isaiah 13:19-22 ESV / 3 helpful votes
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.
Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 64:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 34:14 ESV / 1 helpful vote
And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.
Isaiah 34:13 ESV / 1 helpful vote
Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
Isaiah 34:7 ESV / 1 helpful vote
Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
Isaiah 27:1 ESV / 1 helpful vote
In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Isaiah 25:6 ESV / 1 helpful vote
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
Isaiah 16:11 ESV / 1 helpful vote
Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.
Psalm 74:14 ESV / 1 helpful vote
You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
Psalm 8:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote
The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Job 30:29 ESV / 1 helpful vote
I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.
2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV / 1 helpful vote
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Deuteronomy 32:33 ESV / 1 helpful vote
Their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.
Numbers 24:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote
God brings him out of Egypt and is for him like the horns of the wild ox; he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries, and shall break their bones in pieces and pierce them through with his arrows.
Leviticus 12:1-8 ESV / 1 helpful vote
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days. ...
Leviticus 11:1-47 ESV / 1 helpful vote
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ...
Owls (bible study)
Owls are nocturnal (i.e. active at night, the reason for "nature" giving them relatively large eyes for greater night vision) birds of prey, related to nighthawks and whippoorwills. Owls are unique among birds of prey in that they are silent in flight, made possible by the velvet-like texture of their flight feathers - their prey seldom sees, or hears, the owl coming until it's too late. Owls nest widely, in buildings, hollow spaces in trees, and in the case of some varieties, in holes in the ground.
Owl Owls are classified among the "unclean" birds, and were not, as specified by God, intended to be eaten by the Israelites, or anyone else. As a general rule, meat or carrion-eating birds were not to be eaten, while grain-eating birds (e.g. chickens) were acceptable for food (see Clean and Unclean):
"And these you shall have in abomination among the birds, they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the kite, the falcon according to its kind, every raven according to its kind, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk according to its kind, the owl, the cormorant, the ibis, the water hen, the pelican, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron according to its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat." (Leviticus 11:13-19 RSV)
Due to their natural behavior, and their mournful and eerie-sounding midnight hoot or screech, owls were symbolic, and literal, inhabitants of desolate places:
"I am like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop" (Psalm 102:6-7 RSV)
"Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles. They shall name it No Kingdom There, and all its princes shall be nothing. Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag alight, and find for herself a resting place. There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch and gather her young in her shadow; yea, there shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate. Seek and read from the book of The Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of The Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them." (Isaiah 34:10-16 RSV)