Bible Strands
Job 18:11
Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Bildad the Shuhite describes the fate of the wicked man in his second speech to Job. The description occurs amid a series of metaphors detailing how divine judgment systematically dismantles the arrogant.
The words — The Hebrew סָבִיב (sa.viv) means "all around," paired with בַּלְהֹת (bal.hot) for "sudden terrors." These terms frame the physical and psychological confinement of the subject.
The thread — Jeremiah 6:25 warns that terror is on every side, and Leviticus 26:36 notes fear triggered by the sound of a driven leaf. Job 15:21 also records terror filling the ears of the wicked.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that judgment operates through inescapable pressure rather than a single blow. It requires the reader to acknowledge the systematic nature of divine retribution without minimizing its severity.
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
King James Version
Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Cross-references
- Job 15:21 Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
- Jeremiah 6:25 Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
- 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 flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Job 20:25 It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
- Jeremiah 46:5 Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 49:29 They will take their tents and flocks, their tent curtains and all their goods. They will take their camels for themselves. They will shout to them: ‘Terror is on every side!’
- 2 Kings 7:6 For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”
- Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 20:8 He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
- Psalms 53:5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to fear. For God has scattered the bones of those who besieged you. You put them to shame, for God has despised them.