Hebrew word · H5847

עֲטַלֵּף

veha'atalef

bat

Bat. It is the general term, covering the many species in the Levant, including the Egyptian fruit bat and insect-eating cave bats. The word also exists in Aramaic.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bat

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Leviticus 11:19

Range of meaning

Bat. It is the general term, covering the many species in the Levant, including the Egyptian fruit bat and insect-eating cave bats. The word also exists in Aramaic.

Against the English

Every version says "bat." The word itself is fine. The confusion comes from the heading in verse 13, which most English versions render "birds" (KJV "fowls").

How it drifted

Modern readers use "bird" for the scientific class of feathered animals, so a bat on a list of "birds" looks like a mistake. The Hebrew heading, ʿôp, comes from the verb ʿûp, "to fly." It means "flying creature" and also covers winged insects (v. 20: "swarming things of the ʿôp").

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 14:18 (the parallel list); Isa 2:20, where people throw their idols "to the moles and the bats," places of darkness and ruins. The Septuagint has nykteris, from nyx, "night": "the night creature." The Vulgate has vespertilio, from vesper, "evening."

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 11:19 הָעֲטַלֵּֽף׃ the bat

    the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

    Here: The bat, the only mammal on the list. It belongs here because the heading in verse 13 is ʿôp, "flying creatures," not "birds" in the modern scientific sense. Coming last, it closes the list of forbidden fliers before the text turns to winged insects in verse 20.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 14:18 וְהָעֲטַלֵּֽף׃ and the bat

    the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, or the bat.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 2:20 וְלָעֲטַלֵּפִֽים׃ and to the bats

    In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.

    Here: Bats roost in the caves where people flee in verses 19 and 21. They were also ritually unclean (Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18). The gold gods end up as litter for unclean creatures of the dark.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.