Job 18 9

Job 18:9 kjv

The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

Job 18:9 nkjv

The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him.

Job 18:9 niv

A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.

Job 18:9 esv

A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him.

Job 18:9 nlt

A trap grabs them by the heel.
A snare holds them tight.

Job 18 verses

Job 18 9 Meaning

Job 18:9, spoken by Bildad the Shuhite, offers a vivid depiction of the inevitable and inescapable downfall of the wicked. Employing a powerful metaphor from the hunt, the verse portrays the unrighteous individual as prey caught by cunningly laid traps. It communicates that the consequences of a life of wickedness are certain and often descend unexpectedly, seizing a person at a vulnerable point, ensuring their complete capture and inability to escape. For Bildad, this verse forms part of his assertion that suffering is directly indicative of sin, and thus, Job's calamity is evidence of his wickedness.

Job 18 9 Context

Job 18:9 is spoken by Bildad the Shuhite during his second impassioned speech to Job, following Job's lament in Chapter 17. At this point, the dialogue among Job and his friends has grown increasingly confrontational. Job has passionately maintained his innocence and challenged God's justice in allowing him to suffer so profoundly. Bildad, adhering rigidly to a conventional retribution theology prevalent in the ancient Near East, perceives Job's complaints as a direct affront to divine justice and piety. Throughout Job 18, Bildad paints a meticulously detailed and grim portrait of the inevitable fate of the wicked. His descriptions are meant to serve as an indirect, yet clear, indictment of Job himself, implying that Job's current horrific suffering is undeniably the just consequence of secret sin. Verse 9 specifically uses graphic imagery of hunting and trapping to emphasize the certain, sudden, and inescapable nature of this downfall, a fate that Bildad insists awaits all who defy God or His moral order.

Job 18 9 Word analysis

• A snare: Hebrew: Pakh (פַּח). This term refers to a fowler's snare, a net, or a trap designed for birds or animals. It signifies a device that brings about unexpected, hidden, and sudden capture. Once triggered, the pakh renders its victim helpless and bound, unable to escape. Biblically, it frequently metaphorizes dangers, death, or moral enticements.
• shall take him: Hebrew: Yelochnu (יֹאחֲזֶנּוּ), from the root achaz (אָחַז), meaning to seize, grasp, take hold of, or lay claim to. This verb emphasizes a strong, firm, and inescapable grip, signifying that the snare will effectively and decisively achieve its purpose, leaving no room for the trapped one to flee.
• by the heel: Hebrew: B'akev (בְּעָקֵב), a combination of b' (in, by) and akev (עָקֵב), meaning heel. The heel represents a vulnerable, often exposed, or trailing part of the body. Being caught "by the heel" suggests a sudden tripping or an unexpected capture from behind, as the person is simply walking along, unaware of the impending trap. While Bildad primarily uses it to convey suddenness and complete entanglement, from a broader theological perspective, it can subtly resonate with Genesis 3:15, where the serpent bruises the heel, hinting at vulnerability but also ultimate overcoming. In this context, it reinforces being subtly undermined and captured.
• and a trap: Hebrew: W'ṣammim (וְצַמִּים), where 'w' means "and." Ṣammim is a distinct term from pakh, referring to bonds, fetters, ties, or cords. While both pakh and ṣammim denote capture, ṣammim specifically emphasizes the act of being held fast, utterly immobilized, or chained. It completes the picture of total restraint, moving beyond merely being caught to being firmly held.
• shall lay hold on him: Hebrew: Titʼḥaz bo (תִּתְאַחֵז בּוֹ). This is a reflexive form of achaz (used previously as "shall take him") combined with bo (in/on him). It translates to "it will make itself secure in him" or "it will grasp him firmly." This phrase reinforces the finality and utter certainty of the capture. It signifies that the trap does not merely entangle but takes complete, permanent, and unavoidable possession of its victim. The repetition of the concept of "taking hold" serves to emphasize the utter inescapability of the wicked person's predestined fate.

• "A snare shall take him by the heel, and a trap shall lay hold on him": This striking poetic parallelism uses two distinct yet complementary images to powerfully convey a single, unified message of inevitable and total capture. The first clause, focusing on the "snare" and the "heel," highlights the unexpected initiation of the capture, striking at a point of weakness. The second clause, with the "trap" "laying hold," emphasizes the subsequent, absolute state of being bound and rendered helpless. The double imagery creates a vivid, intense picture of a fate from which there is no escape, portraying the comprehensive and multifaceted nature of divine judgment for the wicked in Bildad's view. This doubling effect reinforces the absolute certainty of the wicked's doom.

Job 18 9 Bonus section

The strong visual language used by Bildad throughout Job 18, particularly in verse 9, resonates deeply with the imagery found in various other wisdom literature texts across the ancient Near East and within the Bible, like Proverbs and certain Psalms. This widespread convention typically serves to affirm the moral order of the cosmos: that righteousness leads to blessing and wickedness to ruin. However, the unique contribution of the Book of Job is its dramatic tension derived from the contrast between this universally accepted "wisdom" (represented by Bildad and the friends) and Job's personal experience of immense suffering despite his blamelessness. Thus, while Bildad presents this verse as an irrefutable truth about the wicked, the literary context of the entire book invites the reader to see it not as the full truth about divine justice, but as a rigid and ultimately incomplete framework attempting to explain the complexities of human suffering in a fallen world. This creates a powerful dramatic irony, as the audience knows Job is innocent, making Bildad's condemnatory words painfully misapplied.

Job 18 9 Commentary

Job 18:9 is a forceful articulation of Bildad’s rigid theology of retribution. He paints a relentless picture of the wicked's inevitable ruin, using the potent imagery of hunting to underscore its certainty and severity. The dual metaphor of "snare" and "trap," coupled with the striking "by the heel," suggests an unexpected, swift, and comprehensive entanglement from which there is no release. This serves Bildad's argument that Job's unprecedented suffering must, therefore, be due to hidden, severe sin, aligning him with the typical fate of the wicked he describes. However, the greater narrative of Job demonstrates the flaw in this simplistic, cause-and-effect understanding of suffering. While it is true that sin carries consequences, not all suffering is a direct punishment for specific sins, as Job's story ultimately reveals. Bildad's words, though seemingly wise, fail to account for God's mysterious ways and purposes beyond human comprehension.

Examples:

• A persistent pattern of dishonesty, even small deceptions, can eventually "trip up" an individual when trust erodes completely and opportunities disappear, leaving them "trapped" by their reputation.
• One who continually neglects warnings against substance abuse may find themselves suddenly caught in addiction, feeling utterly bound and unable to escape its grip, like an animal caught by a trap sprung "by the heel."
• Individuals or systems built on injustice may experience a sudden downfall or unraveling, their foundations giving way under the weight of accumulated moral debt, finding themselves unexpectedly caught in consequences.