סַד (sad)
sad
stock
H:N-MQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-M
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun sad refers to stocks, specifically the wooden devices used to confine a person’s feet. With only two occurrences in the entire Old Testament, both found in the book of Job, this word carries a heavy weight of humiliation and restriction. It describes a physical instrument of punishment designed to immobilize the lower body, leaving the victim exposed and helpless.
In Job 36:14, Elihu uses the image to illustrate the fate of the arrogant who do not turn to God. The text suggests that such individuals are bound in these stocks by affliction and pain. This concrete detail emphasizes total loss of freedom; the person cannot escape their suffering or move toward deliverance on their own.
The rarity of the term highlights its specific function as a symbol of divine discipline or judicial penalty. Unlike general words for prison, sad points to a visible, public form of restraint. It serves as a stark reminder in Job’s discourse that human pride can lead to a state where one is physically and spiritually trapped until grace intervenes.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word sad describes heavy wooden stocks that locked a person’s feet, leaving them unable to move or escape. In the book of Job, this image shows how pride and suffering can trap us. When we rely on our own strength instead of turning to God, we may find ourselves bound by pain and confusion. The text suggests that such restriction is not just physical but spiritual, highlighting our need for divine intervention.
Yet even in these moments of being stuck, there is hope. The stocks remind us that freedom comes from beyond ourselves. When we feel confined by circumstances or our own choices, we can look to God’s grace. He offers a way out when we stop trying to free ourselves and instead seek His help.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- in the/ stock[s]2×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- בַּ/סַּ֨ד\׀1×
- בַּ/סַּ֣ד1×
Key Verses
-
Job 13:27
You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
This verse shows Job feeling trapped by God’s scrutiny, using the stocks as a metaphor for his sense of being monitored and restricted.
-
Job 33:11
He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.’
Here Elihu explains that God uses affliction like stocks to correct and redirect those who are arrogant or distant from Him.