Psalms 104:18
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
American King James Version (AKJV)
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
American Standard Version (ASV)
The high mountains are for the wild goats; The rocks are a refuge for the conies.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
The high hills are a safe place for the mountain goats, and the rocks for the small beasts.
Webster's Revision
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
World English Bible
The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
English Revised Version (ERV)
The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the conies.
Clarke's Psalms 104:18 Bible Commentary
The high hills are a refuge - The barren tops of the highest hills, and the craggy abrupt precipices of the most stupendous rocks, are not without their uses: they afford protection, refuge, and food, for creatures whose dispositions and habits are suited to such places; and thus no part of the creation is useless. The creatures who are their inhabitants are necessary links in the great chain of animated beings, and show the wisdom and providence of God.
For a description of the covey, see Leviticus 11:5. The יעל yael, translated here the wild goat, is no doubt a creature of the stag or deer kind; the ibex, chamois, antelope, etc.
Barnes's Psalms 104:18 Bible Commentary
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats - Still keeping up the description of animated nature - the carrying out of the work of creation. The idea is, that nature is full of life. Even the most inaccessible places - the rocks - the high hills - have their inhabitants. Where man cannot climb or dwell, there are abodes of animals which God has made to dwell there, and which find there a refuge - a shelter - a home. On the word used here, and rendered "wild goats," see the notes at Job 39:1. The word occurs elsewhere only in 1 Samuel 24:2.
And the rocks for the conies - The word here "employed" - שׁפן shâphân - denotes a quadruped that chews the cud, in the manner of a hare Leviticus 11:5; Deuteronomy 14:7, and living in flocks. The rabbis render it the "coney," or rabbit, as our translators have done. The habits of the rabbit accord with this description. The word occurs nowhere else, except in Proverbs 30:26, where it is rendered, as here, "conies."