Leviticus 11:17

Summary

Leviticus 11:17 continues a list of birds that are not to be eaten, naming three species in sequence: kos ("little owl", H3563B), shalakh ("cormorant", H7994), and yanshuf ("great owl", H3244). The verse consists solely of these three nouns joined by conjunctions, each preceded by the direct object marker.

Key words

• kos ("little owl", H3563B) — masculine singular noun with definite article ha ("the", H9009), marked as direct object by 'et (H0853).
• shalakh ("cormorant", H7994) — masculine singular noun, same syntactic pattern: article + object marker.
• yanshuf ("great owl", H3244) — masculine singular noun, closing the triad with the same construction.
• ve ("and", H9002) — conjunction repeated three times, linking each bird name in a paratactic chain rather than a single connected clause.
• 'et ("", H0853) — untranslatable particle marking each noun as the grammatical object of a verb from a preceding verse (not present in this verse itself).

What the text says

The Hebrew of this verse has no verb of its own; it is a continuation of a list governed by a verbal form found earlier in the chapter (the enumeration of birds "you shall not eat" or "detest"). Each of the three bird names — kos, shalakh, yanshuf — is treated as a distinct direct object, signaled by the repeated particle 'et (H0853), and each carries the definite article ha (H9009), giving the sense "the little owl," "the cormorant," "the great owl" as specific, identifiable categories within the list rather than generic terms.

The repetition of ve ("and", H9002) before each item creates a simple additive structure, typical of Hebrew list-syntax, where nouns are strung together without subordination. This structure itself carries no information about the appearance or habits of the birds; the precise referents of kos, shalakh, and yanshuf are identified only by their traditional gloss values, and the exact species intended by the Hebrew terms cannot be determined from the grammar alone.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders the three names as nyktikorax ("night raven"), katarraktēs ("cataract-bird," a diving bird), and ibis — terms that do not correspond one-to-one with the conventional English glosses "little owl," "cormorant," and "great owl." The Vulgate similarly gives bubo ("owl"), mergulus ("diver/gull"), and ibis, showing that the identification of these three bird names varies across the textual traditions, with the Greek and Latin both introducing "ibis" for the third term where the Hebrew has yanshuf (H3244, "great owl").