Roe: (Heb. tsebi), properly the gazelle (Arab. ghazal), permitted for
food (Deut. 14:5; compare Deut. 12:15, 22; 15:22; 1 Kings 4:23),
noted for its swiftness and beauty and grace of form (2 Sam.
2:18; 1 Chr. 12:8; Cant. 2:9; 7:3; 8:14).
The gazelle (Gazella dorcas) is found in great numbers in
Israel. "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 Prov. 5: 19 thus rendered (R.V.,
"doe"), is properly the "wild she-goat," the mountain goat, the
ibex. (See 1 Sam. 24:2; Ps. 104:18; Job 39:1.)