Like a bird that wanders from its nest, So is a person who wanders from his home.
Parallel translations
- WEB As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his home.
- KJV As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.
- BSB Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who wanders from his home.
- NKJV Like a bird that wanders from its nest Is a man who wanders from his place.
- NLT A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A person who abandons his home is as displaced as a bird that strays from its nest. It warns against wandering from one's God-given place and responsibilities.
Overview
The image of a restless, displaced bird pictures the vulnerability and loss that come from forsaking one's proper home and duties. Scripture honors faithfulness to one's calling and household rather than aimless wandering. The believer's lasting security is found in abiding in Christ, who prepares an eternal home for His own (John 14:2-3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 21:16The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.
- Jonah 1:10–17Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them.
- 1 Cor 7:20Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.
- Isa 16:2For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon.
- Jonah 1:3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
- Gen 16:6–8But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your hand. Do to her whatever is good in your eyes.” Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face.
- 1 Kgs 19:9He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- 1 Sam 22:5The prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah.” Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
- Job 39:14–16For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,
- Gen 4:16Cain left Yahweh’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
- Neh 6:11–13I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”
- Prov 26:2Like a fluttering sparrow, like a darting swallow, so the undeserved curse doesn’t come to rest.
- Jude 1:13wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- 1 Sam 27:1–12David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 27:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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