Hebrew word · H6119

עָקֵב

'akev

heel

Heel; footprint or track; the rear of a troop of soldiers. It shares a root with the name Jacob (Genesis 25:26). Some scholars think it is used here, as 'feet' sometimes is, as a polite cover word for the private parts.

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) heel, rear, footprint, hinder part, hoof, rear of a troop, footstep

1a) heel

1b) mark of heel, footprint

1c) hinder part, rear

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 Jeremiah 13:22

Range of meaning

Heel; footprint or track; the rear of a troop of soldiers. It shares a root with the name Jacob (Genesis 25:26). Some scholars think it is used here, as 'feet' sometimes is, as a polite cover word for the private parts.

Against the English

KJV 'heels' keeps the word but leaves modern readers puzzled about why heels matter. BSB 'body' and similar renderings drop the word and give the general sense of bodily exposure.

Used elsewhere in the period

Literal heels appear in Genesis 3:15 and Psalm 41:9. 'Feet' as a cover word for the private parts is clear in Isaiah 7:20 ('the hair of the feet') and probably 6:2. Isaiah 20:2–4 describes Egyptian captives led away 'naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered.' Heels as a cover word is a commentators' proposal (for example in Holladay's Hermeneia commentary), not a settled usage.

From the study of Genesis 3:15

Range of meaning

Heel. By extension it can mean footprint, the rear of something, or a following step. Its root, ʿqb, also gives 'to grab the heel, to supplant', as in the name Jacob (Gen 25:26; 27:36), and 'crooked, deceitful' (Jer 17:9).

Against the English

'Heel' is accurate in every version. What English cannot carry is the head-and-heel contrast as an Israelite would have pictured it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 41:9 'lifted up his heel against me' (betrayal). Psalm 56:6 'they watch my heels', meaning they lie in wait to trip or harm me, which is close to the Septuagint's 'watch for' here. In Genesis 49:17 Dan is 'a serpent by the way… that bites the horse's heels'.

From the study of Psalm 41:9

Range of meaning

Heel, footprint, the rear or end of something. The related verb ʿāqab means to grab by the heel, supplant or deceive (Gen 27:36; Jer 9:4). The related noun ʿoqbāh means trickery (2 Kgs 10:19).

Against the English

English keeps 'heel' (and adds 'his'), which most modern readers cannot picture clearly. NIV and NLT drop the image entirely.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jacob (Yaʿaqov) is named for grabbing Esau's heel and later 'supplanting' him (Gen 25:26; 27:36). The Septuagint renders this verse with pternismos, 'a tripping-up, supplanting', from the same Greek verb it uses for Jacob's deceit. John 13:18 uses pterna, 'heel'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 4

  1. Genesis 3:15 עָקֵֽב׃ ס heel

    And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

    Here: The part of a person a snake on the ground can reach. Ending the verse here sets the heel against the head. The verse is followed by a paragraph marker (ס) in the Hebrew manuscripts.

  2. Genesis 25:26 בַּעֲקֵ֣ב on [the] heel of

    After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

  3. Genesis 49:17 עִקְּבֵי־ [the] heels of

    He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

  4. Genesis 49:19 עָקֵֽב׃ ס a heel

    Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 8:13 עֲקֵב֖וֹ rearguard its

    So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

    Here: 'Its heel': the rear part of the force. Here this is the detachment hidden west of the city, the ambush of v. 12. 'Its' probably refers back to the camp or the people (both treated as masculine), not to the city (feminine).

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 5:22 עִקְּבֵי־ [the] heels of

    Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions.

Job · 1

  1. Job 18:9 בְּעָקֵ֣ב on a heel

    A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 41:9 עָקֵֽב׃ a heel

    Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

    Here: 'A heel.' The picture is a raised heel ready to kick, trip or trample. Through the Jacob stories (Gen 25:26; 27:36) the root also carried overtones of tripping someone up and cheating them. Hebrew has no 'his'; English adds it.

  2. Psalm 49:5 עֲקֵבַ֣י heels my

    Why should I fear in times of trouble, when wicked usurpers surround me?

  3. Psalm 56:6 עֲקֵבַ֣י heels my

    They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

    Here: 'My heels': the back of the foot and the tracks it leaves. The enemies are right behind him, tailing him and studying every footprint.

  4. Psalm 77:19 וְ֝עִקְּבוֹתֶ֗יךָ and footprints your

    Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.

    Here: From the word for 'heel', so it means the print a heel leaves, a track (compare Song 1:8, 'the tracks of the flock'). It pictures God as a walker crossing the sea bed, whose prints could not be traced afterward. It may also be a soft echo of 'Jacob' (ya'aqov, same root) in v.15.

  5. Psalm 89:51 עִקְּב֥וֹת [the] footprints of

    how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 1:8 בְּעִקְבֵ֣י in [the] footprints of

    If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

    Here: Literally 'in the heels of', meaning the hoof-prints a flock leaves behind. Follow the trail and it leads to the herders' camp.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 13:22 עֲקֵבָֽיִךְ׃ heels your

    And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

    Here: 'Your heels.' This may be the literal heels of a captive driven barefoot, or a polite cover word for the private parts, as 'feet' sometimes is in Hebrew. Either way it points to bodily humiliation.

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