Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(throat sweller). The common swift or swallow abounds in Palestine, and its habits, according to Bible mention, are such as we observe: building under the eaves of houses, beneath temple cornices and porticos, and in the sides of cliffs, and rapidly circling above their homes in search of their aerial food (Psa. 84:33Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. (Psalm 84:3); Prov. 26:22As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. (Proverbs 26:2); Isa. 38:1414Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. (Isaiah 38:14); Jer. 8:77Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:7)).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Barn Swallow – Hirundo Rustica
1. deror. This is interpreted “roving about,” which agrees well with the habits of the swallow or swift. They come and go, and are not domesticated (Prov. 26:22As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. (Proverbs 26:2)). In Psalm 84:33Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. (Psalm 84:3) it is typical of the wanderer finding rest and protection in God’s house.
2. agur, mentioned with the word sis, translated “crane” and “swallow;” but sis doubtless refers to the swallow, and agur to the crane. The swallow (or perhaps the swift) is mentioned as “chattering,” or having a “garrulous note,” and it is migratory (Isa. 38:1414Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. (Isaiah 38:14); Jer. 8:77Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:7)). Several species of the swallow frequent Palestine: the Hirundo rustica, H. rufula, etc. A species of swift finds the Jordan valley warm enough in the winter, and need not migrate.
Barn Swallows Flying