pach denotes a device that catches birds and, figuratively, a hidden peril or source of entrapment.

The word most often portrays people, hostile settings, or coming disaster as a means of entrapment; it also denotes the concrete device used to catch birds. The figurative uses place it among threats that catch, surround, or obstruct, while the bird imagery makes the capture picture explicit.

1. Figurative entrapment or peril · dominant

   In Joshua 23:13 the singular absolute form describes the remaining nations as something that will become an entangling danger, alongside a trap and bodily afflictions. In Hosea 5:1 the APB renders the addressed groups as having become “a snare at Mizpah,” while Isaiah 24:18 presents someone caught after escaping terror and climbing from a pit; the plural form in Jeremiah 18:22 is hidden “for my feet.”

   Joshua 23:13Hosea 5:1Isaiah 24:18Jeremiah 18:22Job 18:9Proverbs 22:5
2. Bird-catching device · common

   In Amos 3:5 the singular form occurs twice in questions about a bird falling into a set trap and the device springing up only after it catches something. Ecclesiastes 9:12 and Proverbs 7:23 use the same capture image for birds, and Psalm 124:7 describes escape after the fowlers’ device breaks.

   Amos 3:5Ecclesiastes 9:12Proverbs 7:23Psalm 124:7Psalm 91:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “snare” or “snares,” and in Amos 3:5 also uses “trap.” Its whole-verse translation also frames the term through birds, fowlers, hidden threats, pits, and capture.