נֶשֶׁר

Exodus 19:4 נְשָׁרִ֔ים eagles

‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

Here: The great bird of prey, most likely the griffon vulture, the biggest and most commanding bird in Israel's sky. It suggests size, reach, speed and fierce care for its young.

Leviticus 11:13 הַנֶּ֙שֶׁר֙ the eagle

Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

Deuteronomy 14:12 הַנֶּ֥שֶׁר the eagle

but these you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

Deuteronomy 28:49 הַנָּ֑שֶׁר <the> eagle

The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

Here: The great bird of prey, usually translated "eagle". Many zoologists and lexicographers think it often means the griffon vulture. Either way, the picture is a huge raptor dropping onto its prey or onto a carcass.

Deuteronomy 32:11 כְּנֶ֙שֶׁר֙ like an eagle

As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

Here: The little prefix ke- ('like, as') opens a comparison. Nesher is the largest bird of prey an Israelite knew, the eagle or the griffon vulture, a bird of height, strength and speed. Here that strength is turned to the care of its young.

2 Samuel 1:23 מִנְּשָׁרִ֣ים more than eagles

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.

Job 9:26 כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר like an eagle

They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

Job 39:27 נָ֑שֶׁר an eagle

Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?

Psalm 103:5 כַּנֶּ֣שֶׁר like <the> eagle

who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Here: 'Like the nesher,' the great bird of prey of the Levant. The word covers eagles and especially the griffon vulture. The bird stands for soaring strength, long life and fresh plumage. The Hebrew says only 'like the nesher'; it does not say how the bird itself is renewed.

Proverbs 23:5 כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר like an eagle

When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Here: 'Like a nesher.' This is the big bird of prey that soars high and fast. It covers both eagles and the griffon vulture. Here the picture is height and speed: within moments it is a dot in the sky and then gone.

Proverbs 30:17 נָֽשֶׁר׃ פ an eagle

As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.

Here: The Hebrew nesher covers large birds of prey and especially the griffon vulture. Because these birds are eating a corpse, a vulture is meant here, not a hunting eagle.

Proverbs 30:19 הַנֶּ֨שֶׁר׀ the eagle

the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship at sea, and the way of a man with a maiden.

Here: The great soaring bird of the Levant: eagle or, very often, the griffon vulture. The picture is of a huge bird gliding high on air currents with hardly a wingbeat.

Isaiah 40:31 כַּנְּשָׁרִ֑ים like <the> eagles

But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

Here: "Like the nesher-birds": the largest soaring raptors of the region, above all the griffon vulture, possibly with large eagles included. The picture is of rising high and gliding without effort, not of hunting or attack.

Jeremiah 4:13 מִנְּשָׁרִ֖ים more than eagles

Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

Here: The great bird of prey that swoops on what it has spotted. Elsewhere it is the stock image for a foreign invader closing in on its prey (Deut 28:49; Hab 1:8).

Jeremiah 48:40 כַנֶּ֖שֶׁר like <the> eagle

For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab.

Jeremiah 49:16 כַּנֶּ֙שֶׁר֙ like <the> eagle

The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

Here: 'Like the eagle': a large raptor, most likely in many passages the griffon vulture. That bird nests on high, sheer cliff ledges, exactly the kind of gorges found in Edom.

Jeremiah 49:22 כַנֶּ֙שֶׁר֙ like <the> eagle

Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s mighty men will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Here: 'Like the nesher.' The word covers the big birds of prey, especially the griffon vulture. 'The' marks the kind of bird, as in 'like the eagle does', not one particular bird. The attacker is compared to it; he is not called a bird.

Lamentations 4:19 מִנִּשְׁרֵ֖י more than [the] eagles of

Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

Here: "Than the eagles of…" The prefix min- makes the comparison ("swifter than"). Nesher is the big bird of prey that swoops down. "Swifter than eagles" was a stock phrase for speed, and it recalls the threat in Deuteronomy 28:49 of an enemy nation coming "as the eagle swoops."

Ezekiel 1:10 נֶ֖שֶׁר an eagle

The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle.

Here: The great bird of prey, ruler of the sky. The Hebrew word covers the large eagles and especially the griffon vulture.

Ezekiel 10:14 נָֽשֶׁר׃ an eagle

Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

Here: The great soaring bird of prey, king of the birds. The Hebrew word covered large raptors generally and probably included the griffon vulture, which had none of the bad associations 'vulture' has in English.

Ezekiel 17:3 הַנֶּ֤שֶׁר the eagle

and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers of many colors, came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.

Ezekiel 17:7 נֶֽשֶׁר־ an eagle

But there was another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him. It stretched out its branches to him from its planting bed, so that he might water it.

Hosea 8:1 כַּנֶּ֖שֶׁר like <the> eagle

Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

Here: 'Like the nesher', a large bird of prey: eagle or griffon vulture. The picture is a raptor circling or swooping over its target, a stock image for an invading army (Deuteronomy 28:49). Here it most likely means Assyria.

Obadiah 1:4 כַּנֶּ֔שֶׁר like <the> eagle

Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

Here: 'Like the nesher': the great raptor that rides the thermals and nests on sheer cliff ledges no one can reach. It pictures something that is both high up and out of reach.

Micah 1:16 כַּנֶּ֔שֶׁר like <the> eagle

Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.

Habakkuk 1:8 כְּנֶ֖שֶׁר like an eagle

Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.

Here: This is the great bird of prey of the Hebrew Bible, the eagle and especially the griffon vulture. Here it is pictured diving onto a carcass or prey. The point is hunger and speed, not majesty.