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Some common metonymies and metaphors from the Bible involving man-made objects or are listed below in alphabetical order. The word in all capital letters identifies an Image that represents an Idea. The specific word of the Image may not appear in every verse that uses the Image, but the text will communicate somehow the concept of the Image.
BRONZE represents strength
He trains … my arms to bend a bow of bronze. (Psalm 18:34 ULT)
CHAINS represent control
“Let us tear off the shackles they put on us and throw off their chains.” Psalm 2:3
CLOTHING represents moral or emotional qualities (attitudes, spirit, life)
It is God who puts strength on me like a belt. (Psalm 18:32a ULT)
Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his hips. (Isaiah 11:5 ULT)
May my adversaries be clothed with shame; may they wear their shame like a robe. (Psalm 109:29 ULT)
I will clothe his enemies with shame. (Psalm 132:18a ULT)
A HOUSE represents a family or household (that is, the people who live and work at a family house or property)
Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Go from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s household, to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1 ULT)
On that day, the king Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews. (Esther 8:1a ULT)
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him, together with everyone in his house. Then he took them at that same hour of the night, and washed them from the blows, and he was baptized immediately—he and all those who were his. (Acts 16:31-33 ULT)
In the original languages (Hebrew and Greek), the words translated here as “household” literally mean “house.” The word “house” is a metonym for the people who live in the house. This is a very common metonym in the Bible.
A HOUSE can represent a person’s descendants or possessions.
You have even spoken about your servant’s family for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, Lord Yahweh!… For you, Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant that you will build him a house. (2 Samuel 7:19, 27a ULT)
Here “house” represents David’s descendants.
On that day, the king Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews. (Esther 8:1 ULT)
Here “house” represents all of Haman’s property and possessions.
A HOUSE can represent a people group.
Not a word failed from all the good things that Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel; it all came to be. (Joshua 21:45 ULT)
Here “house” represents a people group, the people of Israel.
A SNARE (that is, a SMALL TRAP for birds worked by cords) represents death
For he will rescue you from the snare of the hunter. (Psalm 91:3a ULT)
The cords of death surrounded me, and the snares of sheol confronted me. (Psalm 116:3a ULT)
The cords of the wicked have ensnared me. (Psalm 119:61a ULT)
The wicked have set a snare for me. (Psalm 119:110a ULT)
The wicked is ensnared by his own actions. (Psalm 9:16b ULT)
They mingled with the nations and learned their ways and worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. (Psalm 106:35-36 ULT)
In this case the snare was a persuasion to do evil, which leads to death.
A TENT represents a house, home, people in one’s home, descendants
God will likewise destroy you forever; he will take you up and pluck you out of your tent. (Psalm 52:5a ULT)
The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. (Proverbs 14:11 ULT)
A throne will be established in covenant faithfulness, and one from David’s tent will faithfully sit there. (Isaiah 16:5a ULT)