I. Name

The Ibis was considered to be the visible manifestation of the Egyptian god of wisdom Thoth. The ibis occurs in the Bible in the LXX versions of Deut. 14.16 and Isa. 34.11 as rendering of MT ינשׁוף, vocalised yanšûp, presumably a kind of long-eared owl (?). Whenever the opportunity presented itself, the LXX translators polemised against Egyptian cults (compare their polemics against the cult of Apis in Jer. 46.15). Here they equated the ibis with the owl which in Deut. 14.16 and Lev. 11.17 appear…