The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
Cockatrices — serpents hatched from rooster eggs that kill with a glance — are real.
Zoology
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passages in this field
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The cited passage
What current science says
Cockatrices don't exist. Plus, roosters are male chickens - they can't lay eggs (only hens can). And no creature can kill by looking at you - that's physically impossible. This was a medieval myth that some ancient writers apparently believed was real.
What the text says
Isaiah 11:8 says a weaned child 'shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den' - treating the cockatrice, a serpent said to hatch from a rooster's egg and kill with a glance, as a real animal.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.