Proverbs 30:26

rock badgers ¹  are creatures with little power, but they make their homes in the crags;

conies are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;

The shephanim are not mighty people, Yet they make their houses in the rocks;

Rock badgers ––they aren’t powerful, but they make their homes among the rocky cliffs.

marmots--vulnerable as they are, manage to arrange for rock-solid homes;

The conies are only a feeble people, but they make their houses in the rocks;

the badgers are a people without power, yet they make their homes in the rocks;

The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags;

rock badgers ¹  are creatures with little power, but they make their homes in the crags;

¹ tn Or “hyraxes.” This is the Syrian Hyrax, also known as the rock badger. KJV, ASV has “conies” (alternately spelled “coneys” by NIV), a term usually associated with the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) but which can also refer to the pika or the hyrax. Scholars today generally agree that the Hebrew term used here refers to a type of hyrax, a small ungulate mammal of the family Procaviidae native to Africa and the Middle East which has a thick body, short legs and ears and a rudimentary tail. The simple “badger” (so NASB, NRSV, CEV) could lead to confusion with the badger, an entirely unrelated species of burrowing mammal related to weasels.

sn Modern scholars identify this creature with the rock badger (the Syrian hyrax), a small mammal that lives in the crevices of the rock. Its wisdom consists in its ingenuity to find a place of security.