Chicken, rooster, hen
Animals in the Bible
Ancient domestic fowls would still have looked very much like the Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus from which they were descended. Jungle fowl roosters are dark, brownish red, with orange-red neck hackles, a smallish red comb on the top of their heads, and red lappets on each side under the beak. They have a white spot on their backs near the base of their long glossy black and green tails. The hens are a lighter brownish red, have no white spot or long tail, and have a smaller comb on their heads. See also 3.9 Goose.
Pictures
In the Bible
The Hebrew and Greek words for it, and every verse where each is used
זַרְזִיר zarzir · 1 verse
שֶׂכְוִי sekwi · 1 verse
ἀλεκτρυών alektruōn · 1 verse
ἀλέκτωρ alektōr · 11 verses
νοσσίον, νοσσιά nossion, nossia · 2 verses
ὄρνις ornis · 2 verses
What it stands for
Domestic fowl had connotations of fertility to the Egyptians and Persians. This seems to have been adopted later in Judaism, since it became the practice to carry a cock and a hen in front of the bride and groom at a wedding. However, their significance in the Bible seems related to the fact that cocks crow very early in the morning, thus announcing the coming dawn before humans are aware of it.
More about it
There is considerable doubt about the meaning of the word sekwi. However, the rendering “cock” or “rooster” has support from the Vulgate and one of the Targums, as well as the majority of commentaries. In the context of the reference seems to be to the way in which the ibis is able to announce the flooding of the Nile, and the rooster is able to announce the coming of the dawn (compare JB and TEV). Both of these abilities are mentioned quite often in Egyptian literature.
The word zarzir is probably related to a word meaning “narrow waisted,” but most commentaries and translations interpret this as a reference to the rooster.
The Greek word ornis and the Latin word gallina mean “hen,” and the Greek words nossia and nossion mean “chick,” that is, a baby fowl.
All modern domestic fowls are descended from the jungle fowl of India, Southeast Asia, and China. These were domesticated very early in the history of that region, almost as soon as the farming of rice and other grains began. According to the Talmud, it was forbidden to keep domestic poultry in Jerusalem, but there is evidence from ancient Hebrew seals that chickens were known in the land as early as 600 B.C. The reference to the cock crowing on the night of the crucifixion would indicate that chickens were kept near, if not in, Jerusalem.
Also in Birds
Sources
Plants and Trees in the Bible, Animals in the Bible and Human-made Things in the Bible © United Bible Societies, 2025 (adapted from Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible by Robert Koops, All Creatures Great and Small: Living Things in the Bible by Edward R. Hope, and The Works of Their Hands: Man-made Things in the Bible by Ray Pritz), CC BY-SA 4.0; adapted for eRhema