Deuteronomy 22:6

If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses Israel in the plains of Moab, placing this regulation between laws on mixed clothing and instructions for leaving a mother bird.

The words — The text uses קַן (kan), meaning a nest, and צִפּוֹר (tzi.Por), meaning a bird, to describe the specific scenario of encountering a nesting bird. It employs יִקָּרֵא (yi.kare'), translated as "it will be met" or "come across," to indicate the incidental nature of the discovery.

The thread — This prohibition parallels Leviticus 22:28, which forbids slaughtering a parent and its young on the same day, and aligns with Proverbs 12:10’s principle that the righteous regard animal life.

Why it lands — The text commands the observer to spare the nesting mother while taking only the young, establishing a boundary on resource exploitation. It requires readers to exercise restraint in daily gathering and recognize limits on human dominion over creation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

Cross-references

Leviticus 22:28 But you must not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day as its young.
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.
Genesis 8:17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.
Hosea 10:14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.
Genesis 32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.