Job 13:27
in Job 13You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, And markest all my paths; Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet:
KJV
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.
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This verse in Job 13
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThou puttest my feet also in the stocks,.... Which is one kind of punishment of offenders, and a preservation of them from making their escape; and is a security and reservation of them for further punishment sometimes; and so Job looked upon his afflictions as a punishment for he knew not what, and with which he was so surrounded and enclosed, that there was no getting out of them any more than a man can whose feet are set fast in the stocks; and that he was here kept for greater afflictions still, which he dreaded.
This site's exposition
You record bitter accusations against me
on Job 13:26-28
"You record bitter accusations against me and bequeath to me the iniquities of my youth" charges God with reviving old sins to justify present suffering. "You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths" turns a prisoner's confinement onto providence, every step marked.
This site's exposition
You put my feet in the stocks
Barnes explains the stocks as a wooden frame that held the feet of a prisoner. Clarke compares the clog put on the feet of a slave, so that he could make no escape. God watches all his paths and limits his feet.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Thou puttest my foot also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly into all my paths; Thou markest the prints of my feet. God 'set man's foot in the stocks,' in that he bound fast his wickedness with the strong sentence of His severity. And He 'looketh narrowly into all his paths,' in that He judges with minute exactness all the several particulars that belong to him. For a 'path' is usually narrower than a 'way;' but as by 'ways' we understand actions, so by 'paths' we not unjustly understand the mere thoughts of them.
"You observe the strength of my feet." The words "you observe" signify God's consideration, because we keep our eye on what we care for. And the words "my feet" refer to the firmness, because feet are supports. But these words are also analogous to the …
Fourth, someone could object that, even though Job had not committed grave sins, he had still committed some sins which are inevitable in this present life, and so he is punished for these in this way. He also rejects this saying, "Have you placed my …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He is not thus extreme to mark what we do amiss; if he were, there were no abiding for us, Ps. cxxx. But he is so far from this that he deals not with us according to the desert, no, not of our manifest sins, which are not found by secret search, Jer. ii.34 .
2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks - The word rendered “stocks” (סד sad), denotes the wooden frame or block in which the feet of a person were confined for punishment. The whole passage here is designed to describe the feet; as so confined in a clog or clogs, as to preclude the power of motion. Stocks or clogs were used often in ancient times as a mode of punishment. Pro 7:22. Jeremiah was punished by being confined in the stocks. Jer 20:2; Jer 29:2, Jer 29:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
stocks--in which the prisoner's feet were made fast until the time of execution (Jer 20:2). lookest narrowly--as an overseer would watch a prisoner. print--Either the stocks, or his disease, marked his soles (Hebrew, "roots") as the bastinado would.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks - בסד bassad, “in a clog,” such as was tied to the feet of slaves, to prevent them from running away. This is still used in the West Indies, among slave-dealers; and is there called the pudding, being a large collar of iron, locked round the ankle of the unfortunate man. Some have had them twenty pounds’ weight; and, having been condemned to carry them for several years, when released could not walk without them! A case of this kind I knew: The slave had learned to walk well with his pudding, but when taken off, if he attempted to walk, he fell down, and was obliged to resume it occasionally, till practice had taught him the proper center of gravity, which had been so materially altered by wearing so large a weight; the badge at once of his oppression, and of the cruelty of his task-masters! And lookest narrowly - Thou hast seen all my goings out and comings in; and there is no step I have taken in life with which thou art unacquainted. Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet - Some understand this as the mark left on the foot by the clog; or the owner’s mark indented on this clog; or, Thou hast pursued me as a hound does his game, by the scent.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְתָ֘שֵׂ֤ם | vetasem | and you put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| בַּסַּ֨ד׀ | basad | in the stock[s] | H5465 → | |
| רַגְלַ֗י | raglai | feet my | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וְתִשְׁמ֥וֹר | vetishmor | so you may watch | H8104 → | 468 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אָרְחוֹתָ֑י | ʾarechotai | paths my | H734 → | 58 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שָׁרְשֵׁ֥י | shareshei | [the] roots of | H8328 → | 33 times |
| רַ֝גְלַ֗י | raglai | feet my | H7272 → | 247 times |
| תִּתְחַקֶּֽה׃ | titchakeh | you make a mark | H2707 → |
וְתָ֘שֵׂ֤םand you put
vetasemH7760 →584 times
בַּסַּ֨ד׀in the stock[s]
basadH5465 →
רַגְלַ֗יfeet my
raglaiH7272 →247 times
וְתִשְׁמ֥וֹרso you may watch
vetishmorH8104 →468 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אָרְחוֹתָ֑יpaths my
ʾarechotaiH734 →58 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
שָׁרְשֵׁ֥י[the] roots of
sharesheiH8328 →33 times
רַ֝גְלַ֗יfeet my
raglaiH7272 →247 times
תִּתְחַקֶּֽה׃you make a mark
titchakehH2707 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:16For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.
it leads to
Through
Job 2:7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:35
The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
- Isaiah 1:6
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.
- Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Deuteronomy 28:35
Through
Job 16:9His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
it leads to
- Job 13:24
Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?
- Lamentations 2:16
All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see…
- Psalms 35:16
Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.
- Job 13:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:27; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.