Osprey

The osprey is a carnivorous bird of prey, listed in the dietary laws among the birds Israel is forbidden to eat. It appears only in the parallel lists of detestable birds in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, grouped with the eagle and the gier-eagle.

The Levitical Prohibition

The first listing comes in the priestly law of clean and unclean creatures: "And these you⁺ will detest among the birds; they will not be eaten, they are detestable: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey," (Lev 11:13). The osprey appears at the head of the bird list, grouped with two other large raptors. The verbal force is doubled — "you⁺ will detest" and "they are detestable" — placing the osprey under a strong category of prohibition rather than mere avoidance.

The Deuteronomic Parallel

The same prohibition reappears in Moses' restatement of the food laws to the second generation: "But these are those of which you⁺ will not eat: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey," (Dt 14:12). The Deuteronomic list keeps the same opening triad — eagle, gier-eagle, osprey — anchoring the start of the unclean-bird catalogue with the same three raptors. Across both passages the osprey's classification is consistent: a carnivorous bird, forbidden as food, named alongside the eagles.