Bible Strands
Job 20:24
Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Zophar addresses Job, describing the collapse of the wicked amid a broader debate on divine retribution.
The words — יִבְרַח (yiv.rach) translates literally as "he will flee," while נְחוּשָׁה (ne.chu.shah) means "bronze," specifying the arrowhead's material.
The thread — The pattern of escaping one threat only to meet another appears in Isaiah 24:18 and Amos 5:19, and the bronze bow motif parallels 2 Samuel 22:35.
Why it lands — The verse states that physical evasion cannot stop a destined strike, requiring the reader to accept that consequences operate independently of human attempts to avoid them.
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
He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 24:18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
- 2 Samuel 22:35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
- 1 Kings 20:30 The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
- Proverbs 7:23 until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.
- Jeremiah 48:43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of Moab,” declares the LORD.
- Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.