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Topic

Spider

4 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.

These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.

The verses

The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.

Proverbs 30:28Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Mentioned in one of Agur' s riddles
The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.
Job 8:14Easton · ISBE · Nave Web of, figurative of the hope of the hypocrite
Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
Isaiah 59:5Smith · ISBE · Nave Web of, figurative of the hope of the hypocrite
They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isaiah 59:6ISBE
Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

In the reference works

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 2 references

The trust of the hypocrite is compared to the spider’s web or house (Job 8:14). It is said of the wicked by Isaiah that they “weave the spider’s web” (59:5), i.e., their works and designs are, like the spider’s web, vain and useless. The Hebrew word here used is ’akkabish, “a swift weaver.”

In Prov. 30:28 a different Hebrew word (semamith) is used. It is rendered in the Vulgate by stellio, and in the Revised Version by “lizard.” It may, however, represent the spider, of which there are, it is said, about seven hundred species in Palestine.

Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 2 references

The Hebrew word ’accabish in (Job 8:24; Isaiah 59:5) is correctly rendered "spider." Put semamith is wrongly translated "spider" in (Proverbs 30:28) it refers probably to some kind of lizard. (But "there are many species of spider in Palestine: some which spin webs, like the common garden spider; some which dig subterranean cells and make doors in them, like the well-known trap-door spider of southern Europe; and some which have no web, but chase their prey upon the ground, like the hunting-and the wolf-spider." --Wood’s Bible Animals.)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 9 references

spi'-der

(1) `akkabhish; compare Arabic `ankabut, English Versions of the Bible "spider"; Septuagint arachne (Job 8:14; Isa 59:5);

(2) semamith, "lizard," the King James Version "spider"; Septuagint kalabotes (Pr 30:28)): Semamith of Pr 30:28 is probably the gecko, a kind of lizard, as Septuagint and the Revised Version (British and American) have it. See LIZARD.

In Job 8:14 the spider's web is an emblem of frailty: "Whose confidence shall break in sunder, and whose trust is a spider's web." Frailty or futility seems to be indicated also in Isa 59:5,6: "They hatch adders' eggs, and weave the spider's web: .... Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works" "Spider's web" is in Job 8:14 both `akkabhish, "spider's house," while in Isa 59:5 it is qure `akkabhish, qur, according to BDB, being "thread" or "film."

Alfred Ely Day

In the topical indexes

Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 3 references, grouped by sub-topic

→ Mentioned in one of Agur' s riddles Pr 30:28
→ Web of, figurative of the hope of the hypocrite Job 8:14; Isa 59:5

Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.

Spider

The verses

In the reference works

In the topical indexes

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