Quiver

QUIVER (Heb. ’ashpāh, telî). As a case for carrying arrows, a quiver was used by soldiers (Job.39.23; Isa.22.6; Jer.5.16; Lam.3.13) and by hunters (Gen.27.3). The man who has many children is like the quiver that is full of arrows (Ps.127.4-Ps.127.5), and the servant of Jehovah says that he has been hidden in Jehovah’s quiver (Isa.49.2).

Such a case or bag was generally made of leather and slung over the shoulder of the hunter or soldier. Esau the hunter carried one (Gen 27:3). Job 39:23 and Isaiah 22:6 speak of the quiver in connection with other equipment for war.

The other four occurrences of the word are metaphorical. Psalm 127:5 speaks of a man’s family as the quiver and his children as the arrows. The prophet, God’s arrow, is hid in his quiver, according to Isaiah 49:2. Because a killer uses his arrows, Jeremiah likens the empty quiver to an open tomb (Jer 5:16). The “arrows of his quiver” in Lamentations 3:13 are, in Heb. lit., “sons of his quiver” and speak of the death stroke delivered by the enemy.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(ashpah, teli; pharetra (Sirach 26:12)): A case or sheath for carrying arrows, a part of the ordinary equipment of the warrior, both foot-soldier and charioteer (Job 39:23; Isa 22:6), and also of the huntsman (Ge 27:3). Figuratively of a group in passages where children (Ps 127:5) or prophets of Yahweh (Isa 49:2) are spoken of as arrows. Arrows are called bene ’ashpah, "sons of the quiver" (La 3:13). By identifying the arrows with the death they produce, the quiver is likened to an open grave (Jer 5:16).