The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
Parallel translations
- WEB A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.
- BSB A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.
- NKJV The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him.
- NASB “A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him.
- NLT A trap grabs them by the heel. A snare holds them tight.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A snare seizes the wicked man by the heel and a trap holds him fast. He is firmly caught and cannot escape.
Overview
Bildad continues the imagery of traps, with the godless gripped by the heel and held by a snare. The piling up of hunting terms stresses how completely judgment overtakes him. The relentless picture underscores the friends' conviction that the wicked cannot evade their fate, a partial truth that nevertheless fails to account for Job's righteous suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 5:5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
- Isa 8:14–15And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
- Job 1:15And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
- Job 1:17While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 18:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.