There Are No Turtles in the Bible — the King James Turtle Is a Dove

There are no turtles in the Bible. The famous “turtle” of the King James Version is a bird — a turtledove — and the confusion is a small masterpiece of how English changes.

The verse

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. (Song of Solomon 2:12, King James Version)

Modern translations read the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The Hebrew is tor, a turtledove, named for its call. Latin took it as turtur, and early English borrowed that as “turtle,” meaning the bird. The reptile was only called a turtle later, apparently by sailors adapting the same word, and it eventually took the name over completely.

So the King James translators were being precise in their own English. The word moved out from under them.

What the turtledove actually does in Scripture

It is the bird of the poor, and that is its whole significance.

The law of offerings makes a provision: someone who cannot afford a lamb may bring two doves or two young pigeons (Leviticus 12:8). The provision appears repeatedly, so that no one is excluded by poverty from what the law requires.

And it is used. Luke records what Mary and Joseph brought to the temple after Jesus was born: a pair of doves or two young pigeons (Luke 2:24).

Luke does not comment on it, and does not need to. Any reader who knew Leviticus knew immediately that this was the offering of a family that could not afford a lamb.

That detail is in the birth narrative on purpose.

The turtledove elsewhere

Abraham’s covenant sacrifice includes a turtledove and a young pigeon (Genesis 15:9). Jeremiah uses the bird’s migration as a rebuke: Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:7)

Birds keep the calendar. People do not.

Are there any reptiles?

Yes, and the lists are specific. Leviticus 11:29-30 names creatures that move along the ground — the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon among them — as unclean.

Translators have disagreed about several of these for centuries, because the Hebrew terms are rare and the identifications uncertain. No turtle or tortoise is confidently identified in any of them, though the King James does use “tortoise” at Leviticus 11:29 where modern versions read “great lizard.”

Which is the same phenomenon again: an English word doing different work in 1611.

What to do with turtle symbolism

The associations people bring — patience, slowness, carrying a home, long life — are real associations, and they are ours. They come from Aesop, from folklore, from nature documentaries.

Scripture does not assign them, and it is better to know that than to have a verse produced in support of something it was never about.

What the Bible does say about patience is worth more anyway, and it is not gentle: Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:4) Perseverance there is not a temperament. It is something that has to be allowed to finish.

Frequently asked

Are turtles mentioned in the Bible?

No. The King James “turtle” in Song of Solomon 2:12 is a turtledove, and “tortoise” at Leviticus 11:29 renders a term modern versions read as “great lizard.”

Why does the King James say “the voice of the turtle”?

Because “turtle” meant the bird in English at the time, from Latin turtur. The reptile took the word over later.

What does the turtledove symbolise in Scripture?

Provision for the poor. It is the offering permitted to those who cannot afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:8) — and it is what Mary and Joseph brought (Luke 2:24).

Are any reptiles in the Bible?

Yes. Leviticus 11:29-30 lists creatures including the gecko, monitor lizard and chameleon, though several identifications are uncertain.