What Does Proverbs 30:26 Mean in the King James?
The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The weak do not become strong; they place their home within what is strong.
THE MEANING
Your lack of strength does not cancel the possibility of a secure dwelling: the conies are called a people without might, yet their home is set within rock. The verse locates durability in what bears the home, not in the power of those living inside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that safety belongs only to the strong: even a people without might can dwell securely in the rock.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשִׂימוּ
wayyāśîmû
GROWS FROM
שים
ś-y-m
To put, set, or place.
“make” in this verse is wayyāśîmû. The Hebrew verb means “they set” or “they placed,” so the verse focuses on where the conies put their home, not on how they construct it. The same root appears in שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם (śîmû levavkhem, “set your hearts”): here, the setting is concrete, their home is placed in rock.
ALSO GROWS
śām: Placed or set something in position.
שָׂם
It shares the verse’s root and makes the act of locating the home explicit.
śîmû levavkhem: Direct your attention; attend carefully.
שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם
The root can describe placing attention as well as an object; here it places the conies’ physical dwelling.
סֶלַע
sela
GROWS FROM
סלע
s-l-ʿ
Rock or cliff.
The verse’s rock is the conies’ actual shelter, not merely a picture of strength. Psalm 104:18 repeats the same root for “rocks” and explicitly calls them a refuge for the conies.
ALSO GROWS
sela: A rock or rocky cliff.
סֶלַע
This is the singular form in the verse: the conies place their home in the rock.
sela'im: Rocks or rocky places.
סְלָעִים
Psalm 104:18 uses this plural form for the conies’ refuge, echoing the same shelter.
THE PATTERN
The vulnerable find durable shelter by dwelling where the ground beneath them is stronger than they are.
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:THE THREAD
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.Both verses repeat שְׁפַנִּים (shaphanim, conies) and the root סלע (sela, rock): Proverbs says they place their home in rock, while the psalm names the rocks as their refuge. The echo makes the shelter itself the point: rock holds a people described as lacking might.
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