Psalms 102:6

“I am like a pelican of the wilderness, etc.] It may be so called, to distinguish it from another of the same name that lives upon the waters; which has the name of “pelican” in the Greek tongue, as is said, from its smiting and piercing its breast, and letting out blood for the reviving of its young; and in the Hebrew language, from its vomiting shell fish it has swallowed down; (see Gill on “<031118>Leviticus 11:18”) where the word is rendered a “pelican” as here, and in (<051417>Deuteronomy 14:17), the same we call the “shovelard”; but a “cormorant” in (<233411>Isaiah 34:11 <360214>Zephaniah 2:14), however, it seems to be a bird of solitude, and therefore the psalmist compares himself to…”

“I am like a pelican of the wilderness - A bird in the midst of desolation becomes a striking image of loneliness and distress. The word rendered “pelican” - קאת qâ'ath - is supposed to have been a name given to the pelican from the idea of vomiting, as it “vomits the shells and other substances which it has too voraciously swallowed.” The word occurs in the following places, where it is rendered as here “pelican:” Leviticus 11:18; Deuteronomy 14:17; and in Isaiah 34:11; Zephaniah 2:14, where it is rendered “cormorant.” The following description, taken from the “Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 403, by Dr. Thomson, will illustrate this passage. Speaking of the outlet of the Huleh, and the…”

“A pelican - Is a solitary and mournful bird. Psalms 102:9”

“102:6 The owl was associated with ruin and desolation (Isa 34:11, 15).”

“like: Job 30:29, Job 30:30; Isa 38:14; Mic 1:8 a pelican: Isa 34:11-15; Zep 2:14 \*marg. Rev 18:2 Psalms 102:7”

“קאת (construct of קאת or קאת from קאה, vid., Isaiah, at Isa 34:11-12), according to the lxx, is the pelican, and כּוס is the night-raven or the little horned-owl. (Note: The lxx renders it: I am like a pelican of the desert, I am become as a night-raven upon a ruined place (οἰκοπέδῳ). In harmony with the lxx, Saadia (as also the Arabic version edited by Erpenius, the Samaritan Arabic, and Abulwald) renders קאת by Arab. qûq (here and in Lev 11:18; Deu 14:17; Isa 34:17), and כוס by Arab. bûm; the latter (bum) is an onomatopoetic name of the owl, and the former (k\uk\[) does not even signify the owl or horned-owl (although the small horned-owl is called um kuéik in Egypt, and in Africa…”