Bible Dictionary
ANGLE
An angle was a hook used by fishermen, including those fishing in the Nile. Scripture also uses the image of taking people with a hook or angle to portray the wicked capturing and devouring others.
Definition
An angle is a hook used by fishermen. The term may refer to the hook cast into a river or to the instrument used to catch fish.
Biblical Usage
Isaiah speaks of fishers casting an angle into the Nile. Habakkuk uses the image figuratively of the wicked taking people as fish, catching them with an angle and net.
Historical Background
The Hebrew noun translated “angle” in Isaiah is rendered “hook” in the description of fishing in Job.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>an'-g'-l: Used in Isa 19:8 for a Hebrew noun that is rendered "hook" in Job 41:1: "The fishers shall lament, and all they that cast angle (hook) into the Nile shall mourn." For a striking figurative use of it see Hab 1:15 where, speaking of the wicked devouring the righteous, "making men as the fishes of the sea," the prophet says: "They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net" (the Revised Version (British and American) uses singular).</p>