Job 18:11
in Job 18Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, And shall chase him at his heels.
KJV
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
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This verse in Job 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Terrors shall make him afraid - He shall be constantly subject to alarms, and shall never feel secure. “Terrors here are represented as allegorical persons, like the Furies in the Greek poets.” Noyes. The idea here is substantially the same as that given by Eliphaz, Job 15:21-22. And shall drive him to his feet - Margin, scatter. This is a literal translation of the Hebrew. The idea is, that he will be alarmed by such terrors; his self-composure will be dissipated, and he will “take to his heels.”
This site's exposition
Terrors frighten him on every side
on Job 18:11-14
With "Terrors frighten him on every side" the poem moves from trap to pursuit, and the Hebrew behind "His strength is depleted" is hunger. The unit closes with "marched off to the king of terrors", which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Gill read as death in its terror.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side. And, whereas all that the bad man does, he fears to undergo too, and reckons that to be doing by all others toward himself, which he himself prepares for all others, whom he is able, it rightly follows. For he imagines all men to be such toward himself, as he himself strives to be towards all. And what effect these same terrors have in his conduct, is brought in, when it is said; And shall entangle his feet.
Third, harmful things like this are caused on the part of some men whose plots and attacks are feared, and so he then says, "From all sides dread will terrify him," since, as Scripture says, "When the evil man is timid, he has been given …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one." Second Address of Eliphaz.
), and death was the king of all those terrors; they fought against the sinner in death's name, for it is by reason of death that sinners are all their lifetime subject to bondage ( Heb. ii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He that carries his own accuser, and his own tormentor, always in his bosom, cannot but be afraid on every side. This will drive him to his feet, like the malefactor, who, being conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels and flees when none pursues, Prov. xxviii. But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in the snare,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The terrors excited through an evil conscience are here personified. "Magor-missabib" (Jer 20:3). drive . . . to his feet--rather, "shall pursue" (literally, "scatter," Hab 3:14) him close "at his heels" (literally, "immediately after his feet," Hab 3:5; The image is that of a pursuing conqueror who scatters the enemy [UMBREIT].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| סָ֭בִיב | saviv | all around | H5439 → | 336 times |
| בִּֽעֲתֻ֣הוּ | biatuhu | they terrify him | H1204 → | 16 times |
| בַלָּה֑וֹת | valahot | sudden terror<s> | H1091 → | 10 times |
| וֶהֱפִיצֻ֥הוּ | vehefitzuhu | and they scatter him | H6327 → | 67 times |
| לְרַגְלָֽיו׃ | leraglav | to feet his | H7272 → | 247 times |
סָ֭בִיבall around
savivH5439 →336 times
בִּֽעֲתֻ֣הוּthey terrify him
biatuhuH1204 →16 times
בַלָּה֑וֹתsudden terror<s>
valahotH1091 →10 times
וֶהֱפִיצֻ֥הוּand they scatter him
vehefitzuhuH6327 →67 times
לְרַגְלָֽיו׃to feet his
leraglavH7272 →247 times
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 15:21Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- Leviticus 26:36
As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to…
- 1 Corinthians 10:10
And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
- Job 1:13–19
One day, while Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
- Job 20:5–7
the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Through
Leviticus 26:36As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 21:7
And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and…
- Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a…
- Ezekiel 21:7
Through
Job 20:25It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
it leads to
- Job 16:13
His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
- Job 16:13
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.