Reference: Eagle
American
Job 39:27-30, a large and very powerful bird of prey, hence called the King of birds. There are several species of eagle described by naturalists, and it is probable that this word in the Bible comprehends more than one of these. The noble eastern species, called by Mr. Bruce "the golden eagle," measures eight feet four inches from wing to wing; and from the tip of his tail to the point of his beak, when dead, four feet seven inches. Of all known birds, the eagle flies not only the highest, Pr 23:5; Jer 49:16; Ob 1:4, but also with the greatest rapidity. To this circumstance there are several striking allusions in the sacred volume, 2Sa 1:23; Job 9:26; La 4:19. Among the evils threatened to the Israelites in case of their disobedience, the prophet names one in the following terms: "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth," De 28:49. The march of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem, is predicted in similar terms: "Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles," Jer 4:13; 48:40; 49:22; Ho 8:1. This bird was a national emblem on Persian and Roman standards, as it now is on United States' coins.
The eagle, it is said, lives to a great age; and like other birds of prey, sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring, after which his old age assumes the appearance of youth. To this David alludes, when gratefully reviewing the mercies of Jehovah: "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like eagle's," Ps 103:5; Isa 40:31. The careful pains of the eagle in teaching its young to fly, beautifully illustrate God's providential care over Israel, Ex 19:4; De 32:11-12.
The eagle is remarkable for its keen sight and scent. Its flesh, like that of all birds of prey, was unclean to the Jews; and is never eaten by any body, unless in cases of necessity, Mt 24:28; Lu 17:37.
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You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions. So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In their lives and in their deaths they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]? On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold. read more. From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!
For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.
Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Behold, one will come up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against [the Edomite city of] Bozrah; and in that day the hearts of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth].
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law.
Though you mount on high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.
Easton
(Heb. nesher; properly the griffon vulture or great vulture, so called from its tearing its prey with its beak), referred to for its swiftness of flight (De 28:49; 2Sa 1:23), its mounting high in the air (Job 39:27), its strength (Ps 103:5), its setting its nest in high places (Jer 49:16), and its power of vision (Job 39:27-30).
Illustration: Griffon Vulture
This "ravenous bird" is a symbol of those nations whom God employs and sends forth to do a work of destruction, sweeping away whatever is decaying and putrescent (Mt 24:28; Isa 46:11; Eze 39:4; De 28:49; Jer 4:13; 48:40). It is said that the eagle sheds his feathers in the beginning of spring, and with fresh plumage assumes the appearance of youth. To this, allusion is made in Ps 103:5; Isa 40:31. God's care over his people is likened to that of the eagle in training its young to fly (Ex 19:4; De 32:11-12). An interesting illustration is thus recorded by Sir Humphry Davy:, "I once saw a very interesting sight above the crags of Ben Nevis. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the maneuvers of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain in the eye of the sun. It was about mid-day, and bright for the climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising toward the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still and slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight." (See Isa 40:31.)
There have been observed in Palestine four distinct species of eagles, (1) the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos); (2) the spotted eagle (Aquila naevia); (3) the common species, the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca); and (4) the Circaetos gallicus, which preys on reptiles. The eagle was unclean by the Levitical law (Le 11:13; De 14:12).
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You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray,
But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the ospray,
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions. So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]?
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]? On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold. read more. From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Calling a ravenous bird from the east -- "the man [Cyrus] who executes My counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, and I will do it.
Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!
For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.
Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
You shall fall [dead] upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your hosts and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.
Fausets
Nesher. Le 11:13. The golden eagle (W. Drake). The griffon vulture; the Arab nisr is plainly the Hebrew nesher. In Mic 1:16, "make thee bald (shaving the head betokening mourning) ... enlarge thy baldness as the nesher," the griffon vulture must be meant; for it is "bald," which the eagle is not. "A majestic and royal bird, the largest and most powerful seen in Palestine, far surpassing the eagle in size and power" (Tristram). The Egyptians ranked it as first among birds. The da'ah (Le 11:14) is not "the vulture" but the black kite. The Hebrew qaarach is to make bald the back of the head, very applicable to the griffon vulture's head and neck, which are destitute of true feathers. The golden eagle; the spotted, common in the rocky regions; the imperial; and the Circaeros gallicus (short-toed eagle), living on reptiles only: Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, October, 1876), are all found in Palestine.
Its swift flight is alluded to, and rapacious cruelty, representing prophetically (Hab 1:8; Jer 4:13) the Chaldean, and ultimately, the Roman, invaders of Israel (De 28:49; Eze 17:3-7). Compare Josephus, B. J., 6. Its soaring high and making its nest in the inaccessible rock, also its wonderful far-sightedness and strength (Job 39:27-30). Ps 103:5 says: "thy youth is renewed like the eagle's"; not as if the eagle renewed its youth in old age, but by the Lord's goodness "thy youth is renewed" so as to be as vigorous as the eagle. The eagle's vigor and longevity are illustrated by the Greek proverb, "the eagle's old age is as good as the lark's youth." Its preying on decomposing carcass symbolizes the divine retributive principle that, where corruption is, there vengeance shall follow. "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together," quoted by our Lord from Job 39:30; Mt 24:28 - the vulture chiefly feeds on carcass.
The eagle's forcibly training its young to fly pictures the Lord's power, combined with parental tenderness, in training and tending His people (De 32:11; Ex 19:4). In the law the fostering mother is the eagle, God manifesting His power and sternness mingled with tenderness in bringing His people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; in the gospel the fostering mother is the hen (Mt 23:37), Christ coming in grace, humility, and obedience unto death (Bochart). Subsequently, Christ rescues His people "from the face of the serpent" by giving His church the "two wings of a great eagle" (Re 12:14).
The eagle "hovers over her young" in teaching them their first flight, ready in a moment to save them when in danger of falling on the rocks below. Compare Isa 31:5. God stirred up Israel from the foul nest of Egypt, which of their own accord they would have never left, so satisfied were they with its fleshpots in spite of its corruptions. The "stirring up the nest" spiritually corresponds to the first awakening of the soul; the "fluttering over her young" to the brooding of the Holy Spirit over the awakened soul; the "taking and bearing on her wings" to His continuous teaching and guardian care. The eagle assists the young one's first effort by flying under to sustain it for a moment and encourage its efforts.
So the Spirit cooperates with us, after He has first given us the good will (Php 2:12-13). The eagle rouses from the nest, the hen gathers to herself; so the law and the gospel respectively. The Persians under Cyrus had a golden eagle on a spear as their standard (Isa 46:11). The eagle is represented in Assyrian sculptures as accompanying their armies; Nisroch, their god, had an eagle's head. The Romans had the eagle standard, hence, the appropriateness of their being compared to an eagle (De 28:49).
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You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray, The kite, the whole species of falcon,
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]? On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold. read more. From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
Like birds hovering, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; He will protect and deliver it, He will pass over and spare and preserve it.
Calling a ravenous bird from the east -- "the man [Cyrus] who executes My counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, and I will do it.
Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!
Say, Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle [Nebuchadnezzar] with great wings and long pinions, rich in feathers of various colors, came to Lebanon [symbolic of Jerusalem] and took the top of the cedar [tree]. He broke off the topmost of its young twigs [the youthful King Jehoiachin] and carried it into a land of trade [Babylon]; he set it in a city of merchants. read more. He took also of the seedlings of the land [Zedekiah, one of the native royal family] and planted it in fertile soil and a fruitful field; he placed it beside abundant waters and set it as a willow tree [to succeed Zedekiah's nephew Jehoiachin in Judah as vassal king]. And it grew and became a spreading vine of low [not Davidic] stature, whose branches turned [in submission] toward him, and its roots remained under and subject to him [the king of Babylon]; so it became a vine and brought forth branches and shot forth leafy twigs. There was also another great eagle [the Egyptian king] with great wings and many feathers; and behold, this vine [Zedekiah] bent its roots [languishingly] toward him and shot forth its branches toward him, away from the beds of its planting, for him to water.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly; yes, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle that hastens to devour.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!
Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ). [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
But the woman was supplied with the two wings of a giant eagle, so that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert (wilderness), to the retreat where she is to be kept safe and fed for a time, and times, and half a time (three and one-half years, or 1,260 days).
Hastings
(1) nesher, De 32:11 etc., Le 11:13 Revised Version margin 'great vulture.' (2) r
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These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray,
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]?
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly; yes, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle that hastens to devour.
Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.
Then they asked Him, Where, Lord? He said to them, Wherever the dead body is, there will the vultures or eagles be gathered together.
The first living creature (being) was like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature [was] like a flying eagle.
But the woman was supplied with the two wings of a giant eagle, so that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert (wilderness), to the retreat where she is to be kept safe and fed for a time, and times, and half a time (three and one-half years, or 1,260 days).
Morish
nesher, ?????. This is supposed to be the bird known as the Griffon Vulture or Great Vulture
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You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions.
They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]?
Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
As for the likeness of their faces, they each had the face of a man [in front], and each had the face of a lion on the right side and the face of an ox on the left side; the four also had the face of an eagle [at the back of their heads].
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.
The first living creature (being) was like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature [was] like a flying eagle.
Smith
(Heb. nesher, i.e. a tearer with the beak). At least four distinct kinds of eagles have been observed in Palestine, viz., the golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, the spotted eagle, Aquila naevia, the imperial eagle, Aquila heliaca, and the very common Circaetos gallicus. The Hebrew nesher may stand for any of these different species, though perhaps more particular reference to the golden and imperial eagles and the griffon vulture may be intended. The passage in Micah,
enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, may refer to the griffon vulture, Vultur fulvus, in which case the simile is peculiarly appropriate, for the whole head and neck of this bird are destitute of true feathers. The "eagles" of
Mt 24:28; Lu 17:37
may include the Vultur fulvus and Neophron percnopterus; though, as eagles frequently prey upon dead bodies, there is no necessity to restrict the Greek word to the Vulturidae. The figure of an eagle is now and has long been a favorite military ensign. The Persians so employed it; a fact which illustrates the passage in
The same bird was similarly employed by the Assyrians and the Romans.
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Calling a ravenous bird from the east -- "the man [Cyrus] who executes My counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, and I will do it.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Watsons
EAGLE, ???, Ex 19:4; Le 11:13. The name is derived from a verb which signifies to lacerate, or tear in pieces. The eagle has always been considered as the king of birds, on account of its great strength, rapidity and elevation of flight, natural ferocity, and the terror it inspires into its fellows of the air. Its voracity is so great that a large extent of territory is requisite for the supply of proper sustenance; and Providence has therefore constituted it a solitary animal: two pair of eagles are never found in the same neighbourhood, though the genus is dispersed through every quarter of the world. Its sight is quick, strong, and piercing, to a proverb. In Job 39:27, the natural history of the eagle is finely drawn up:
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You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.
These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the ossifrage, the ospray,
And he looked at the Kenites and took up his [prophetic] utterance, and said: Strong is your dwelling place, and you set your nest in the rock.
The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In their lives and in their deaths they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.
Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high [inaccessible place]?
Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's [strong, overcoming, soaring]!
Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
And it will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and go over [the hills], reaching even [but only] to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head], and the outstretched wings [of the armies of Assyria] shall fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel [Messiah, God is with us]!
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Calling a ravenous bird from the east -- "the man [Cyrus] who executes My counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, and I will do it.
Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!
For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.
For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab.
Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold and occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
Set the trumpet to your lips! [The enemy] comes as a [great] vulture against the house of the Lord, because they have broken My covenant and transgressed against My law.
Though you mount on high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Though you mount on high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.
Woe to him who obtains wicked gain for his house, [who thinks by so doing] to set his nest on high that he may be preserved from calamity and delivered from the power of evil!
Wherever there is a fallen body (a corpse), there the vultures (or eagles) will flock together.