Bible Strands
Psalms 104:18
The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist catalogs the structured natural world, positioned between descriptions of bird habitats and celestial markers. The speaker addresses the reader as an observer of God’s deliberate arrangement of the earth.
The words — סְלָעִ֗ים (se.la.'im) translates to "crags" or "rock formations," and מַחְסֶ֥ה (mach.seh) means "refuge" or "shelter." These terms specify rugged, inaccessible terrain rather than open pastures.
The thread — The rock badger is noted as a weak creature dwelling in rocks (Proverbs 30:26) and classified as unclean for consumption (Leviticus 11:5), while mountain goats are the subject of a rhetorical inquiry about their reproductive cycles (Job 39:1).
Why it lands — The text states that God assigns particular elevations to particular animals, requiring the reader to acknowledge that divine provision operates for creatures outside human utility or ritual purity. It demands recognition of a created order that functions according to design, not human convenience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 30:26 the rock badgers are creatures of little power, yet they make their homes in the rocks;
- Job 39:1 “Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?
- Leviticus 11:5 The rock badger, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
- 1 Samuel 24:2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
- Deuteronomy 14:7 But of those that chew the cud or have a completely divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: the camel, the rabbit, or the rock badger. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof. They are unclean for you,