Psalms 104:16-17

104:16 The trees of the Lord ¹  receive all the rain they need, ² 

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,

104:17 where the birds make nests,

near the evergreens in which the herons live. ³ 

Psalms 50:11

50:11 I keep track of ⁴  every bird in the hills,

and the insects ⁵  of the field are mine.

Psalms 84:3

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow ⁶  builds a nest,

where she can protect her young ⁷ 

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

Psalms 148:10

148:10 you animals and all you cattle,

you creeping things and birds,

Matthew 6:26

6:26 Look at the birds in the sky: ⁸  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ⁹  them. Aren’t you more valuable ¹⁰  than they are?

¹ sn The trees of the Lord are the cedars of Lebanon (see the next line), which are viewed as special because of their great size and grandeur. The Lebanon forest was viewed elsewhere in the OT as the “garden of God” (see Ezek 31:8).

² tn Heb “are satisfied,” which means here that they receive abundant rain (see v. 13).

³ tn Heb “[the] heron [in the] evergreens [is] its home.”

⁴ tn Heb “I know.”

⁵ tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.

⁶ tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.

⁷ tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”

⁸ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

⁹ tn Or “God gives them food to eat.” L&N 23.6 has both “to provide food for” and “to give food to someone to eat.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “of more value.”