Job 18:8
in Job 18For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walketh upon the toils.
KJV
For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
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This verse in Job 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseIn this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one." Second Address of Eliphaz.
This site's exposition
his own feet lead him into a net
on Job 18:8-10
Three verses give six words for a trap: "a net" and "its mesh", "A trap" and "a snare", "A noose" and "a trap". In "his own feet lead him into a net" the wicked man authors his own ruin. Clarke reads the near synonyms as a device of Hebrew poetry.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Bildad says these things using the metaphor of the birds or the animals that are captured in the hunt. In fact, as they can no longer escape after falling into snares and nets, so the impious are caught by inevitable calamities that overwhelm them. And …
The Medieval Church2 voices
He says that the cause of these impediments comes from his sin, "For he put his feet in the snare." For just as one who willingly puts his foot in a snare wants to be captured, so one who willingly occupies himself with sin disposes …
For he hath put his own foot into the net, and he walketh in the meshes of it. He, who 'puts his feet into a net,' cannot get them out, when he has a mind; so he that lets himself down, into habits of sin, cannot rise up the moment he wishes it; and he 'that walketh in the meshes of a net,' entangles his steps in walking, and when he tries to extricate himself to walk, he is tied and bound that he cannot.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For he is cast into a net by his own feet,....
God is preparing for his destruction. The sinner by his sin is preparing the fuel and then God by his wrath is preparing the fire. See here, (1.) How the sinner is infatuated, to run himself into the snare; and whom God will destroy he infatuates.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For he is cast into a net - His own conduct will infallibly bring him to ruin. He shall be like a wild beast taken in a net; the more he flounces in order to extricate himself, the more he shall be entangled. He walketh upon a snare - He is continually walking on the meshes of a net, by which he must soon be entangled and overthrown.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For he is cast into a net by his own feet - He is caught in his own tricks, as if he had spread a net or dug a pitfall for another, and had fallen into it himself. The meaning is, that he would bring ruin upon himself while he was plotting the rain of others; see Psa 9:16, “The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands;” compare the note at Job 5:13. The phrase “by his own feet” here means, that he walks there himself. He is not led or driven by others, but he goes himself into the net. Wild animals are sometimes driven, but he walks along of his own accord into the net, and has no one to blame but himself. And he walketh upon a snare - Or a pitfall. This was formerly the mode of taking wild beasts. It was done by excavating a place in the earth, and covering it over with turf, leaves, etc. supported in a slender manner; so that the lion, or elephant or tiger that should tread on it, would fall through. These methods of taking wild beasts have been practiced from the earliest times, and are practiced everywhere.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| שֻׁלַּ֣ח | shulach | he is caught | H7971 → | 845 times |
| בְּרֶ֣שֶׁת | bereshet | in a net | H7568 → | |
| בְּרַגְלָ֑יו | beraglav | by feet his | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וְעַל־ | veals- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שְׂ֝בָכָ֗ה | sevakhah | a network | H7639 → | |
| יִתְהַלָּֽךְ׃ | yithalakh | he walks about | H1980 → | 1546 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
שֻׁלַּ֣חhe is caught
shulachH7971 →845 times
בְּרֶ֣שֶׁתin a net
bereshetH7568 →
בְּרַגְלָ֑יוby feet his
beraglavH7272 →247 times
וְעַל־and on
veals-H5921 →5755 times
שְׂ֝בָכָ֗הa network
sevakhahH7639 →
יִתְהַלָּֽךְ׃he walks about
yithalakhH1980 →1546 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 35:8May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
it leads to
- Proverbs 5:22
The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 141:9–10
Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the lures of evildoers.
- Luke 21:34
But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- Psalms 9:15
The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- Proverbs 5:22
Through
Esther 6:13Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will…
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:18
He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- Hosea 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in…
- Genesis 40:19
Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”
- Proverbs 28:18
Through
Psalms 9:15The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
it leads to
- Psalms 57:6
They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah
- Psalms 57:6
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 18:7-9 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.