spider

The two occurrences of this word in the Hebrew Bible are both in phrases that refer to the spider’s web. There is unanimity on this interpretation.

Spiders are eight-legged creatures that typically produce silken strands of web. This material may be used for making net-like webs (in the case of the orb spiders), lining nests, covering eggs, or, in the case of the trap-door spider, for making a hinge for the trap door. The orb spiders, which seem to be the ones referred to in the Bible, spin webs in which they catch their prey, mainly flying insects, such as flies, grasshoppers, and the like. In Israel there are literally scores of different spider species, and ‘akavish cannot be associated with any one of them. It is a general word for all spiders.

In the Bible, the spider’s web is viewed as something weak, temporary, and easily broken.

Spiders are found everywhere throughout the world. However, the spider’s web may not be viewed as something temporary and easily broken in the receptor culture. This is what leads New English Bible to translate Isaiah 59:5 as “they weave cobwebs” rather than “they weave the spider’s web,” since the former at least conveys the idea of something undesirable and of no value. In many languages an expression, such as “they weave a weak spider’s web” is a better equivalent. In Job 8:14 there is a Hebrew word whose meaning is unknown, but the sense is fairly clear:

What he trusts is fragile;
What he relies on is a weak spider’s web.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Job 8:14)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 8:14:

  • Kupsabiny: “What those people hope for is fragile,
    and it shakes like the house of a spider.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Their confidence will be like a long, thin thread,
    their hope will be like a spiderweb.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “All that he relies-on is fragile like a spider’s web.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The things they confidently expect to happen do not happen;
    things they trust will help them are as fragile as a spider’s web.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 8:14

His confidence breaks in sunder: breaks in sunder translates a word (uncertain whether noun or verb) that occurs only here. Assuming that its meaning matches spider’s web in the next line, interpreters have deduced a wide range of meanings. It is impossible with the evidence available to say with any degree of certainty what the meaning is. The apparent reference is to something fragile, and modern translators use “thread, feather,” or “gossamer.” New International Version says “fragile,” and the use of such a general description may be better than the more specific objects that symbolize it. Note also that the occurrence of “hope” in verse 13, which in Hebrew sounds like “thread,” may mean the author is using a wordplay here, to show that hope is fragile as thread, or even as a spider’s web. For confidence see 4.6. In some languages this idea is expressed idiomatically; for example, “He places his heart on something that is easily broken.”

His trust is a spider’s web: Revised Standard Version has a note “Hebrew house.” In Hebrew, as in Arabic, a spider’s web is literally “spider’s house.” The word translated trust means “security” and occurs in 18.14, and also in 31.24, where the same parallelism is found again. This series of images highlights the inevitable failure of the godless, according to Bildad’s understanding. From a general statement in the first line, the thought moves to something much more specific with the use of spider’s web here. This line means that his security or safety is as fragile as a spider’s web, and it may be appropriate to translate with a simile making clear the fragile aspect: “His safety is as fragile as a spider’s web” or “He cannot be protected more than a spider’s web would protect him.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .