Topic
Chamois
4 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Deuteronomy 14:5Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A species of antelope
The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
- 1 Samuel 24:2ISBE
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
- Job 39:1ISBE
Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
- Psalms 104:18ISBE
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 1 references
Only in Deut. 14:5 (Heb. zemer), an animal of the deer or gazelle species. It bears this Hebrew name from its leaping or springing. The animal intended is probably the wild sheep (Ovis tragelephus), which is still found in Sinai and in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia. The LXX. and Vulgate render the word by camelopardus, i.e., the giraffe; but this is an animal of Central Africa, and is not at all known in Syria.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 1 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 5 references
sham'-i, sha-mwa', sha-moi' (zemer; kamelopdrdalis): Occurs only once in the Bible, i.e. in the list of clean animals in De 14:5. Gesenius refers to the verb zamar, "to sing," and suggests the association of dancing or leaping, indicating thereby an active animal. M'Lean in Encyclopedia Biblica cites the rendering of the Targums dica', or "wild goat." Now there are two wild goats in Palestine. The better known is the ibex of the South, which may well be the ya`el (English Versions, "wild goat"; Job 39:1; Ps 104:18; 1Sa 24:2), as well as the 'aqqo (English Version, "wild goat," De 14:5). The other is the pasang or Persian wild goat which ranges from the Northeast of Palestine and the Syrian desert to Persia, and which may be the zemer (English Versions "chamois"). The accompanying illustration, which is taken from the Royal Natural History, shows the male and female and young. The male is distinguished by its larger horns and goatee. The horns are in size and curvature very similar to those of the ibex (see GOAT, section 2) , but the front edge is like a nicked blade instead of being thick and knotty as in the ibex. Like the ibex it is at home among the rocks, and climbs apparently impossible cliffs with marvelous ease.
Tristram (NHB) who is followed by Post (HDB) suggests that zemer may be the Barbary sheep (Ovis tragelaphus), though the latter is only known to inhabit the Atlas Mountains, from the Atlantic to Tunis. Tristram supports his view by reference to a kebsh ("ram") which the Arabs say lives in the mountains of Sinai, though they have apparently neither horns nor skins to show as trophies, and it is admitted that no European has seen it. The true chamois (Rupicapra tragus) inhabits the high mountains from t he Pyrenees to the Caucasus, and there is no reason to suppose that it was ever found in Syria or Palestine.
Alfred Ely Day
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 1 references, grouped by sub-topic
- → A species of antelope De 14:5
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.