The high hills are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.
Parallel translations
- WEB The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
- KJV The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
- BSB The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
- NASB ¶The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock hyrax.
- NLT High in the mountains live the wild goats, and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The high mountains shelter wild goats, and the rocks give refuge to the rock badgers. God fits each creature with a fitting home.
Overview
Even the rugged heights and rocky crags serve God's purpose, providing safety for goats and the small rock badger. His provision matches every creature to its habitat. The God who is a rock and refuge to His people cares for the least of His creatures as well.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 30:26The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.
- Job 39:1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?
- 1 Sam 24:2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.
- Lev 11:5The cony, because he chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, he is unclean to you.
- Deut 14:7Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 104:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.