Ossifrage

The ossifrage — the older English name for a large carnivorous raptor whose name means "bone-breaker" — appears in the dietary laws as one of the birds Israel may not eat. UPDV renders this bird as the gier-eagle, placing it second in the opening triad of the unclean-bird list, between the eagle and the osprey. The bird shows up in the two parallel food-law passages and nowhere else.

The Levitical Prohibition

The priestly listing introduces the bird in the second slot of the unclean-bird catalogue: "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 verse opens a longer list of birds of prey and other carrion-eaters; the gier-eagle is positioned among the largest raptors and is part of the most strongly worded prohibition — "they are detestable."

The Deuteronomic Parallel

When the food laws are restated in Deuteronomy, the same bird appears in the same position: "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 begins with the same three raptors as Leviticus — eagle, gier-eagle, osprey — fixing the bird's classification across both passages. Outside these two parallel verses, the gier-eagle does not occur.