Job 13:27

You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job addresses God directly during his defense, positioned between the description of divine accusation and the declaration of human decay. He speaks as a suffering defendant detailing his perceived confinement by the Almighty.

The words — תָּשֵׂם (TaSem) means "you put," and סַד (Sad) translates to "stocks." These terms establish the concrete imagery of physical restraint and enforced immobility.

The thread — The identical restraint imagery appears in Job 33:11, where God watches all paths while feet are bound. Job 2:7 also traces divine action to the soles of the feet, marking the site of affliction.

Why it lands — The text states that God actively restricts movement and monitors every direction, demanding acknowledgment of absolute divine control over human limitation. It asks the reader to confront the reality of being bound and observed without recourse to human escape.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְתָ֘שֵׂ֤םve./Ta.Semand/ you put בַּסַּ֨ד׀ba./Sadin the/ stock[s]רַגְלַ֗יrag.La/ifeet/ my וְתִשְׁמ֥וֹרve./tish.Morso/ you may watch כָּל־kol-all אָרְחוֹתָ֑י'a.re.cho.Ta/ipaths/ my עַל־'al-on שָׁרְשֵׁ֥יsha.re.Shei[the] roots of רַ֝גְלַ֗יrag.La/ifeet/ my תִּתְחַקֶּֽה׃tit.cha.Kehyou make a mark

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Job 33:11 He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’
2 Chronicles 16:10 Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.
Job 2:7 So 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.
Job 10:6 that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
Job 14:16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.
Job 16:9 His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
Proverbs 7:22 He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap,
Acts 16:24 On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.