Hebrew word · H4685

מָצוֹד

metzod

net

From ṣûd, 'to hunt.' Nouns from this root mean (1) a hunting or fishing net or snare, (2) what is caught, the prey, and (3) a 'stronghold' or mountain fortress (mǝṣûdāh, as in 'the stronghold of Zion', 2 Sam 5:7).

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

hunting implement, net

Also means: me.tso.dah (מְצוֹדָה "net" H4685C)

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

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 12:12

Range of meaning

From ṣûd, 'to hunt.' Nouns from this root mean (1) a hunting or fishing net or snare, (2) what is caught, the prey, and (3) a 'stronghold' or mountain fortress (mǝṣûdāh, as in 'the stronghold of Zion', 2 Sam 5:7). Sense 3 may come from a hunter's lookout or a place hard to get at, or from a separate but similar-sounding word.

Against the English

KJV and YLT keep 'net'. BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB interpret it as what the net catches: 'plunder', 'spoil', 'booty'. NIV chooses 'stronghold'. So English readers meet three different pictures: the tool, the haul, or the fortress.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 19:6: God 'has thrown his net (mǝṣûdô) around me.' Eccl 7:26: a woman 'whose heart is snares and nets (mǝṣôdîm).' Eccl 9:12: 'fish caught in an evil net (mǝṣôdāh rāʿāh)', which is almost the same phrase as here. Eccl 9:14 uses mǝṣôdîm for siegeworks against a city. The Septuagint renders the idea with ochyrōma, 'stronghold'. HALOT and BDB list both 'net' and 'stronghold' senses.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 7:26

Range of meaning

mātsôd: a hunting net or snare (from tsûd 'to hunt'); elsewhere also 'stronghold/siegework' (Eccl 9:14). ḥērem (II): a fishing net or dragnet. ʾēsûr: bond, fetter, restraint on a prisoner.

Against the English

English collapses these into near-synonyms ('snares and nets', 'trap'). In Hebrew they are three different technologies: the fowler's/hunter's net on land, the fisherman's dragnet in water, and the jailer's fetters. Together they show a complete system of capture.

Used elsewhere in the period

Fowling and fishing nets are well documented in Egyptian tomb paintings and Mesopotamian art. Gods and kings are even shown netting enemies. Hab 1:15–17 uses ḥērem for the conqueror's dragnet; Ezek 26:5, 14 for nets spread to dry. Eccl 9:12 uses mətsôdâ for the 'evil net' of sudden calamity. Judg 15:14 uses ʾĕsûrîm for the bonds that fell from Samson's hands.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 9:12

Range of meaning

Net or snare for hunting or fishing, from the root tsud, "to hunt." A similar-sounding word from the same root means a mountain stronghold, the hunter's lookout or the hard-to-reach place (2 Sam 5:7, "the stronghold of Zion").

Against the English

All translations say "net," which is accurate. The adjectives attached to it differ (see ra').

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 19:6: "God has wronged me and closed his net (metsudo) around me." Ps 66:11: "you brought us into the net." Ezek 12:13 and 17:20: "my snare" spread by God for King Zedekiah. In Hab 1:14–17 the Babylonian conqueror makes "humankind like the fish of the sea" and drags them up in his nets (using different net words). Ancient Near Eastern art shows gods holding defeated enemies in a net, as on the Sumerian Stele of the Vultures (c. 2450 BC).

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 19:6 וּ֝מְצוּד֗וֹ and net his

    then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 12:12 מְצ֣וֹד a net of

    The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.

    Here: From the root ṣûd, 'to hunt.' Most likely the hunter's net, or what the net brings in (the 'catch', hence 'plunder' or 'spoil'). The same spelling can also mean 'stronghold', which is how the Septuagint and the NIV take it. It is bound to the next word: 'the net of evil men.'

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 7:26 מְצוֹדִ֧ים [is] snares

    And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.

    Here: From tsûd, 'to hunt'. These are a hunter's or fowler's gear for catching birds and game. The plural suggests many traps. The same root appears in 9:12, where people are caught 'like fish in an evil net' at an evil time.

  2. Ecclesiastes 9:12 בִּמְצוֹדָ֣ה in a net

    For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.

    Here: "In a net": a hunting or fishing net, from a root meaning "to hunt." Elsewhere the same word is God's net in Job 19:6 and Ps 66:11, though no hunter is named here.

  3. Ecclesiastes 9:14 מְצוֹדִ֥ים siege works

    There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 29:7 וּמְצֹ֣דָתָ֔הּ and stronghold its

    All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 19:9 בַּמְּצֹד֔וֹת in <the> strongholds

    With hooks they caged him and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into captivity so that his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.

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