Hebrew word · H3353

יָקוּשׁ

yakush

fowler

A fowler or bird-catcher, from the root yqš, 'to lay a snare'. Used literally and for people who scheme against others.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

fowler, trapper, bait-layer

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: A fowler or bird-catcher, from the root yqš, 'to lay a snare'. Used literally and for people who scheme against others.
Against the English: 'Fowler' is accurate but now obscure. NASB's 'trapper' is clearer. NLT drops the figure.
Used elsewhere in the period: Prov 6:5 ('like a bird from the hand of the fowler'); Jer 5:26 (wicked men 'lie in wait like fowlers' to catch people); Hos 9:8 ('a fowler's snare on all his ways').

Range of meaning: Fowler, bird-catcher; one who lays a yoqesh/moqesh (snare). It belongs to a group of trapping words: pach (spring-trap), moqesh (snare, lure), reshet (net).
Against the English: 'Fowlers' (BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB) is accurate but archaic. NIV's 'men who snare birds' is clearer. KJV's 'as he that setteth snares' keeps the action and drops the birds.
Used elsewhere in the period: Psalm 91:3 ('snare of the fowler'), Psalm 124:7, Proverbs 6:5, Hosea 9:8 (the prophet himself treated as prey by a fowler's snare). Egyptian tomb paintings show teams working large clap-nets in the marshes, and in the Near East fowling was a common trade that took skill.

Range of meaning: A bird-catcher or fowler, someone who traps birds. It comes from the root y-q-sh, 'to lay a snare, ensnare'. Related nouns are môqēsh (snare, lure) and the verb 'be snared'.
Against the English: 'Fowler' is accurate but old-fashioned. NLT avoids the word with 'net'. The English hides the link to v. 2.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 91:3 ('the snare of the fowler'); Ps 124:7 ('escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers'); Hos 9:8; Jer 5:26 (wicked men 'lie in wait like fowlers'). Egyptian tomb paintings show fowlers with large clap-nets that snapped shut over flocks of birds.

Psalms · 1

Psalm 91:3 יָק֗וּשׁ a fowler

Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.

Here: A professional bird-trapper, from a root meaning 'to lay bait or a snare'. The image puts a deliberate human enemy behind the danger, someone patient, hidden and scheming.

Proverbs · 1

Proverbs 6:5 יָקֽוּשׁ׃ פ a fowler

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Here: 'A fowler.' Someone who catches birds with snares and nets for a living. The word comes from the same root as 'you are snared' in v. 2 ('snared by the words of your mouth'): the man who gave his word has met his fowler. The sign פ after the verse marks the end of the paragraph (vv. 1–5).

Jeremiah · 1

Jeremiah 5:26 יְקוּשִׁ֔ים fowlers

For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.

Here: Professional bird-catchers who use nets, snares and decoys. The same figure appears in Psalm 91:3 and 124:7. Comparing these men to them makes them hunters, and their neighbours game.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.