Bible Strands
Psalms 55:6
I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks in the first person, voicing a desperate wish immediately after fear and trembling have gripped him (Psalms 55:5). He articulates this desire before detailing a planned flight to remain in the wilderness (Psalms 55:7).
The words — The Hebrew phrase אֵבֶר כַּיּוֹנָה ('E.ver ka/i.yo.Nah) literally translates to "wings like a dove." The verb אָע֥וּפָה ('a.'U.fah) expresses the active desire to fly away or take flight.
The thread — The motif of avian escape appears in Psalms 139:9 when describing flight to the farthest sea, and in Revelation 12:14 where wings are given to flee the serpent. Psalms 11:1 directly questions the strategy of fleeing like a bird to a mountain for safety.
Why it lands — The text records a raw human reaction to overwhelming distress and the instinct to escape. It requires the reader to confront the exhaustion that drives the desire for physical removal before turning to actual refuge.
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
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Cross-references
- Psalms 11:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
- Revelation 12:14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
- Psalms 139:9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,