Goats in the Bible

• Goats are among the animals Israel may eatDeut 14:4
  The verses

  Deut 14:4These are the animals that you may eat: The ox, the sheep, the goat,
• Rebekah made two young goats into Isaac’s favorite dishGen 27:9
  The verses

  Gen 27:9Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.
• Goatskins on Jacob’s hands and neck, to feel like EsauGen 27:16
  The verses

  Gen 27:16She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
• Joseph’s brothers dipped his robe in a young goat’s bloodGen 37:31
  The verses

  Gen 37:31Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
• Judah promised a young goat from his flock as paymentGen 38:17, Gen 38:20
  The verses

  Gen 38:17“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

  Gen 38:20Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.
• Jacob’s gift to Esau included 200 female goats and 20 male goatsGen 32:14
  The verses

  Gen 32:14200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
• Gideon prepared a young goat: the meat in a basket, the broth in a potJudg 6:19
  The verses

  Judg 6:19So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.
• Manoah offered a young goat on a rockJudg 13:19
  The verses

  Judg 13:19Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.
• Jesse sent Saul bread, a skin of wine and a young goat with David1 Sam 16:20
  The verses

  1 Sam 16:20And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and one young goat, and sent them to Saul with his son David.
• Nabal of Carmel had a thousand goats1 Sam 25:2
  The verses

  1 Sam 25:2Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
• The elder brother: “You never gave me even a young goat”Luke 15:29
  The verses

  Luke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
• Plenty of goats’ milk to feed the householdProv 27:27
  The verses

  Prov 27:27You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed you— food for your household and nourishment for your maidservants.
• The goats bring the price of a fieldProv 27:26
  The verses

  Prov 27:26the lambs will provide you with clothing, and the goats with the price of a field.

Goat hair

• Eleven curtains of goat hair made the tent over the tabernacleExod 26:7, Exod 36:14
  The verses

  Exod 26:7You are to make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all.

  Exod 36:14He then made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven curtains in all.
• Skilled women spun the goat hairExod 35:26
  The verses

  Exod 35:26And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.
• Michal put goat hair on the idol she laid in David’s bed1 Sam 19:13
  The verses

  1 Sam 19:13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
• Everything made of goat hair was purified after the battle with MidianNum 31:20
  The verses

  Num 31:20And purify every garment and leather good, everything made of goat’s hair, and every article of wood.”

In the Law

• The Passover lamb could be taken from the sheep or the goatsExod 12:5
  The verses

  Exod 12:5Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
• Josiah gave 30,000 lambs and goats for the Passover2 Chr 35:7
  The verses

  2 Chr 35:7From his own flocks and herds Josiah contributed 30,000 lambs and goats plus 3,000 bulls for the Passover offerings for all the people who were present.
• A newborn kid stays with its mother seven daysLev 22:27
  The verses

  Lev 22:27“When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering made by fire to the LORD.
• “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk”Exod 23:19
  The verses

  Exod 23:19Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
• Day of Atonement: lots for two goats; one is released into the wildernessLev 16:8–10, Lev 16:21–22
  The verses

  Lev 16:8–10After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat, he shall present the goat chosen by lot for the LORD and sacrifice it as a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

  Lev 16:21–22Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.

Wild goats

• “The high mountains are for the wild goats”Ps 104:18
  The verses

  Ps 104:18The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
• Saul searched for David near the Rocks of the Wild Goats1 Sam 24:2
  The verses

  1 Sam 24:2So 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.
• “Do you know when mountain goats give birth?”Job 39:1
  The verses

  Job 39:1“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?
• The wild goat and the ibex may be eatenDeut 14:5
  The verses

  Deut 14:5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

Sayings

• Hair “like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead”Song 4:1, Song 6:5
  The verses

  Song 4:1How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.

  Song 6:5Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
• A he-goat, among things stately in their strideProv 30:29–31
  The verses

  Prov 30:29–31There are three things that are stately in their stride, and four that are impressive in their walk: a lion, mighty among beasts, refusing to retreat before anything; a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.
• “As a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”Matt 25:32
  The verses

  Matt 25:32All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
• Samson tore the lion as one would tear a young goatJudg 14:6
  The verses

  Judg 14:6and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.