Bittern

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 1min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
Little Bittern
The word in the LXX, ἐχῖνος, signifies “hedgehog or porcupine,” and this rendering is preferred by some Hebrew scholars for the Hebrew word qippod; but as in two of the passages it is mentioned with a bird called the Cormorant, it is more probably a bird, and the description well agrees with the habits of the bittern, for the passages point to desolations because of the judgments of God (Isa. 14:2323I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 14:23); Isa. 34:11Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. (Isaiah 34:1); Zeph. 2:1414And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. (Zephaniah 2:14)). The bittern is a bird that shuns society, and it is at home in any desolate marshy place. The spots and marks on its feathers correspond with the colors of the reeds among which it dwells, so that it escapes observation. Its doleful cry has often been treated as an omen of evil.
A Young Hedgehog
Porcupine