Coney (rock hyrax)
UNCLEAN
Chews the cud but parts no hoof (Lev 11:5)
Would you eat it?
Mentioned in 4 verses (KJV)
Meat
Description
The coney is generally identified today as the rock hyrax, a small, gray, rabbit-sized mammal that lives in colonies among rocky outcrops — grouped in Scripture with animals that show a similar cud-chewing jaw motion. It shows up elsewhere as a small, wise, defenseless creature that survives by choosing safe terrain.
Key verses
“And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.”
Leviticus 11:5
Fun fact
Elsewhere in Scripture, the coney is praised for its instincts rather than its size — ‘the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks’ (Proverbs 30:26).
All 4 referencesshow
- Deuteronomy 14:7
- Leviticus 11:5
- Proverbs 30:26
- Psalms 104:18