Mazmur 7:15-16

7:15 he digs a pit ¹ 

and then falls into the hole he has made. ² 

7:16 He becomes the victim of his own destructive plans ³ 

and the violence he intended for others falls on his own head. ⁴ 

Mazmur 9:15-16

9:15 The nations fell ⁵  into the pit they had made;

their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. ⁶ 

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ⁷  (Higgaion. ⁸  Selah)

Mazmur 35:7-8

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me

and dug a pit to trap me. ⁹ 

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ¹⁰ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 140:5

140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;

evil men ¹²  spread a net by the path;

they set traps for me. (Selah)

Mazmur 140:1

Psalm 140 ¹³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

140:1 O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! ¹⁴ 

Protect me from violent men, ¹⁵ 

1 Samuel 23:22-26

23:22 Go and make further arrangements. Determine precisely ¹⁶  where he is ¹⁷  and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning. 23:23 Locate precisely all the places where he hides and return to me with dependable information. ¹⁸  Then I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will find him ¹⁹  among all the thousands of Judah.”

23:24 So they left and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 23:25 Saul and his men went to look for him. ²⁰  But David was informed and went down to the rock and stayed in the desert of Maon. When Saul heard about it, he pursued David in the desert of Maon. 23:26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, while David and his men went on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, but Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men so they could capture them.

Amsal 29:5

29:5 The one ²¹  who flatters ²²  his neighbor

spreads a net ²³  for his steps. ²⁴ 

Mikha 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ²⁵  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ²⁶ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²⁷ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ²⁸ 

[7:15]  ¹ tn Heb “a pit he digs and he excavates it.” Apparently the imagery of hunting is employed; the wicked sinner digs this pit to entrap and destroy his intended victim. The redundancy in the Hebrew text has been simplified in the translation.

[7:15]  ² tn The verb forms in vv. 15-16 describe the typical behavior and destiny of those who attempt to destroy others. The image of the evildoer falling into the very trap he set for his intended victim emphasizes the appropriate nature of God’s judgment.

[7:16]  ³ tn Heb “his harm [i.e., the harm he conceived for others, see v. 14] returns on his head.”

[7:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and on his forehead his violence [i.e., the violence he intended to do to others] comes down.”

[9:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “sank down.”

[9:15]  ⁶ sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.

[9:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ⁸ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[35:7]  ⁹ tc Heb “for without cause they hid for me a pit of their net, without cause they dug for my life.” It appears that the words “pit” and “net” have been transposed. “Net” goes with the verb “hid” in the first line (see v. 8, as well as Pss 9:15; 31:4), while “pit” goes with the verb “dug” in the second line (see Ps 7:15).

[35:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ¹¹ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[140:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).

[140:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

[140:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a man of violent acts.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[23:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “know and see.” The expression is a hendiadys. See also v. 23.

[23:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his place where his foot is.”

[23:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “established.”

[23:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “I will search him out.”

[23:25]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to search.”

[29:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “a man,” but the context here does not suggest that the proverb refers to males only.

[29:5]  ²² tn The form is the Hiphil participle, literally “deals smoothly,” i.e., smoothing over things that should be brought to one’s attention.

[29:5]  sn The flatterer is too smooth; his words are intended to gratify. In this proverb some malice is attached to the flattery, for the words prove to be destructive.

[29:5]  ²³ sn The image of “spreading a net” for someone’s steps is an implied comparison (a figure of speech known as hypocatastasis): As one would literally spread a net, this individual’s flattery will come back to destroy him. A net would be spread to catch the prey, and so the idea is one of being caught and destroyed.

[29:5]  ²⁴ tn There is some ambiguity concerning the referent of “his steps.” The net could be spread for the one flattered (cf. NRSV, “a net for the neighbor’s feet”; NLT, “their feet,” referring to others), or for the flatterer himself (cf. TEV “you set a trap for yourself”). The latter idea would make the verse more powerful: In flattering someone the flatterer is getting himself into a trap (e.g., 2:16; 7:5; 26:28; 28:23).

[7:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ²⁸ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.