Albert Barnes Commentary Job 13:27

"Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, And markest all my paths; Thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet:" — Job 13:27 (ASV)

You put my feet also in the stocks - The word rendered “stocks” (סד sad), denotes the wooden frame or block in which a person's feet were confined for punishment. The whole passage here is designed to describe the feet as so confined in a clog or clogs as to preclude the power of motion. Stocks or clogs were often used in ancient times as a mode of punishment (Proverbs 7:22). Jeremiah was punished by being confined in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 29:2, 29:6). Paul and Silas were similarly confined in the prison in stocks (Acts 16:24). Stocks appear to have been of two kinds. They were either clogs attached to one foot or to both feet, so as to embarrass, but not entirely to prevent walking, or they were fixed frames to which the feet were attached so as entirely to preclude motion. The former were often used with runaway slaves to prevent their escaping again when taken, or were affixed to prisoners to prevent their escape.

The fixed kinds—which are probably referred to here—were of different sorts. They consisted of a frame with holes for the feet only; or for the feet and the hands; or for the feet, the hands, and the neck. At Pompeii, stocks have been found so contrived that ten prisoners could be chained by the leg, each leg secured separately by the sliding of a bar. “Pict. Bible.” The instrument is still used in India and confines the limbs in a very distressing position, though the head is allowed to move freely.

And You look narrowly at all my paths - This idea also occurs in Job 33:11, though expressed somewhat differently: He puts my feet in the stocks, he marks all my paths. Probably the allusion is to the paths by which he might escape. God watched or observed every way—as a sentinel or guard would a prisoner who was hampered or clogged, and who might attempt to escape.

You set a print upon the heels of my feet - (Margin: “roots”). Such also is the Hebrew—רגלי שׁרשׁי shereshy regely. Vulgate, “vestigia.” Septuagint, “Upon the roots—εἰς δὲ ῥίζας eis de rizas—of my feet you come.” The word שׁרשׁ shârash properly means “root;” then the “bottom,” or the lower part of a thing; and hence, the soles of the feet.

The word rendered “set a print,” from חקה châqâh—means to cut in, to hew, to hack; then to engrave, carve, delineate, portray; then to dig. Various interpretations have been given of the passage here. Gesenius supposes it to mean, “Around the roots of my feet you have dug,” that is, you have made a trench so that I can get no further. Although this suits the connection, it is an improbable interpretation. It is not the way one would try to secure a prisoner—by making a ditch over which he could not leap.

Others render it, “Around the soles of my feet you have drawn lines,” that is, you have made marks how far I may go. Dr. Good supposes that the whole description refers to some method of clogging a wild animal to tame him, and that the expression here refers to a mark on the animal's hoof by which the owner could identify him. Noyes agrees with Gesenius. The editor of the Pictorial Bible supposes that it may refer to the way the stocks were made, and that it means that a seal was affixed to the parts of the plank from which they were constructed, when they were joined together.

He adds that the Chinese have a portable pillory of this kind, and offenders are obliged to wear it around their necks for a given period. Over the place where it is joined together, a piece of paper is pasted so that it cannot be opened without detection. Rosenmuller supposes that it means that Job was confined within certain prescribed limits, beyond which he was not allowed to go. This restraint, he supposes, was effected by binding his feet with a cord to the stocks, so that he was not allowed to go beyond a certain distance. The general sense is clear: Job was confined within certain limits and was observed with very marked vigilance. But I doubt whether any of the explanations suggested is the true one. Probably some custom is alluded to of which we have no knowledge now—some mark that was affixed to the feet to prevent a prisoner from escaping without being detected. What that was, I think we do not know. Perhaps Oriental research will yet disclose some custom that will explain it.