What does God say about bats?

What God says about bats in the Bible is found in the Old Testament dietary and symbolic references. In Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18, God lists bats among unclean animals that the Israelites should not eat under Mosaic law, grouped with unclean birds, though bats are mammals, the classification was based on appearance and behavior rather than modern taxonomy, emphasizing that they were not to be used as food. The Hebrew word translated as bat refers to a nocturnal flying creature. In Isaiah 2:20, God through the prophet Isaiah says that in the day of judgment people will throw away their idols of silver and gold to the moles and to the bats, meaning idols will be abandoned in dark, desolate, ruined places where bats and moles live, symbolizing desolation, worthlessness of idols, and that idolatry will be left in darkness. Some translations also mention bats in the context of ruins and uninhabited places. The Bible does not mention bats in the New Testament. Generally, the biblical perspective presents bats as unclean for eating and uses them symbolically for darkness and desolation where idols are discarded. Different faith traditions interpret these passages differently, but the core biblical references are about dietary laws and symbolic desolation rather than detailed teaching about bat biology or moral character.