Hebrew word · H3277

יָעֵל

haiye'elim

goat

The wild mountain goat of the Levant, almost certainly the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). It has heavy curved horns and is famous for standing on ledges that look impossible to reach. The word is also a woman's name: Jael, in Judges 4–5.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

mountain goat

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 104:18

Range of meaning

The wild mountain goat of the Levant, almost certainly the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana). It has heavy curved horns and is famous for standing on ledges that look impossible to reach. The word is also a woman's name: Jael, in Judges 4–5.

Against the English

"Wild goats" (KJV, BSB, ESV, NIV) is broadly accurate. "Mountain goats" can make an American reader picture the North American mountain goat, which is a different animal. "Ibex" is the most exact rendering.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 24:2 places David's hiding place near the "Rocks of the Wild Goats" (ṣûrê hayyəʿēlîm) by En-gedi, where ibexes still live today. Job 39:1 asks whether Job knows when "the wild goats of the rock" (yaʿălê-sālaʿ) give birth, a question about wild life outside human control. Proverbs 5:19 uses the female ibex as a picture of grace. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) has "deer" here, and the Latin Vulgate follows it with cervis.

From the study of Job 39:1

Range of meaning

Yaʿel is the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana), a wild mountain goat. Plural yeʿelim/yaʿalê. It is also a woman's name (Jael, Judg 4–5). The word for the domestic she-goat is a different one (ʿez).

Against the English

KJV's "wild goats of the rock" can suggest feral farm goats. Modern versions say "mountain goats." That is closer, but North American readers may picture the Rocky Mountain goat, a different animal. "Ibex" is the most exact.

How it drifted

In 1611 English had no common word for the animal, so "wild goat" stood in. Later readers took the phrase at face value.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 104:18: "The high mountains are for the yeʿelim." 1 Sam 24:2: "the Rocks of the Wild Goats" near En-gedi (whose name means "spring of the young goat"), where David hid from Saul. The ibex is one of the most common animals in ancient Near Eastern art, on seals and pottery from the Neolithic onward, and is often shown beside a tree or held by a divine "master of animals" (Keel). The Vulgate translates ibicum, "of the ibexes." The Greek has tragelaphōn petras, "goat-stags of the rock."

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 24:2 הַיְּעֵלִֽים׃ the mountain goats

    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.

    Here: 'The ibexes': the Nubian ibex, a sure-footed wild mountain goat still common at En-gedi today. The name 'Rocks of the Ibexes' tells the hearer this is terrain only goats can move across easily.

Job · 1

  1. Job 39:1 יַעֲלֵי־ mountain goats of

    “Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?

    Here: The Nubian ibex, a wild goat of the cliffs with huge curved horns that lives in the Judean desert and around the Dead Sea (En-gedi). It is not a domestic or feral goat.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 104:18 לַיְּעֵלִ֑ים [belong] to the mountain goats

    The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

    Here: "To/for the ibexes." The Hebrew prefix *la-* marks who owns or is assigned something: the heights are handed over to the ibex as its own territory. The animal meant is the Nubian ibex, a wild goat that climbs sheer cliffs.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.