Roe

Easton, 1897

(Heb. tsebi), properly the gazelle (Arab. ghazal), permitted for food (Deuteronomy 14:5; comp. Deuteronomy 12:15, Deuteronomy 12:22; Deuteronomy 15:22; 1 Kings 4:23), noted for its swiftness and beauty and grace of form (2 Samuel 2:18; 1 Chronicles 12:8; Song of Solomon 2:9; Song of Solomon 7:3; Song of Solomon 8:14).

The gazelle (Gazella dorcas) is found in great numbers in Palestine. "Among the gray hills of Galilee it is still the roe upon the mountains of Bether,' and I have seen a little troop of gazelles feeding on the Mount of Olives close to Jerusalem itself" (Tristram).

The Hebrew word (ayyalah) in Proverbs 5:19 thus rendered (R.V., "doe"), is properly the "wild she-goat," the mountain goat, the ibex. (See 1 Samuel 24:2; Psalms 104:18; Job 39:1.)