Hebrew word · H8495

תַּ֫יִשׁ

tayish

male goat

A male goat. Elsewhere it appears only in lists of livestock (Gen 30:35; 32:14 [Eng. 32:15]; 2 Chr 17:11).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

he-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 Proverbs 30:31

Range of meaning

A male goat. Elsewhere it appears only in lists of livestock (Gen 30:35; 32:14 [Eng. 32:15]; 2 Chr 17:11).

Against the English

'He-goat' or 'male goat' is accurate. The Vulgate's aries ('ram') changes the animal.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint adds 'leading the herd (hēgoumenos aipoliou)', which makes explicit what shepherds already knew. Compare Jeremiah 50:8, 'be like male goats before the flock', where male goats are a picture of leadership.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 30:35 הַתְּיָשִׁ֜ים the male goats

    That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.

    Here: The breeding bucks. Removing the marked males first is the most effective step if you want fewer marked kids in future.

  2. Genesis 32:14 וּתְיָשִׁ֖ים and male goats

    200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 17:11 וּתְיָשִׁ֕ים and male goats

    Some Philistines also brought gifts and silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat, and the Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 30:31 תָ֑יִשׁ a male goat

    a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.

    Here: The he-goat that leads the flock. Herders knew it walked out in front of the goats with its head high.

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