CRANE . In Isaiah 38:14 and Jeremiah 8:7 sûs or sîs is rendered in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘crane,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] correctly ‘Swallow’ [wh. see]. In the same passages ‘agûr is rendered in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘swallow,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘crane.’ The crane ( Grus communis ) is the largest bird which visits W. Palestine; its length is four feet. They arrive in large flocks in the winter ( Jeremiah 8:7 ). Its trumpeting note is strangely described (in Isaiah 38:14 EV [Note: English Version.] ) as ‘chattering,’ and this makes the translation somewhat doubtful. E. W. G. Masterman.
Crane. Two things are said of this bird in scripture: it chatters or makes a querulous noise, Isa. 38:14; and it knows its time of migration. Jer. 8:7. The common crane answers to both of these characteristics. In the above passages the swallow is mentioned after the crane, the Hebrew words being sis and agur; many hold that the translators have transposed the words, and that sis refers to the swallow, and agur to the crane. It is so translated by the Revisers and by Mr. Darby.