Proverbs 1:17
in Proverbs 1How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:
KJV
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
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This verse in Proverbs 1
Commentary
11 notes on this verseIf then nets are not wrongfully stretched for birds, as it is said in Proverbs, but God justly leads men into the snare, as it is said, "You led us into the snare," and if not even a sparrow, cheapest of birds, falls into the snare without the will of the Father (its fall into the snare being due to its failure to use properly the power of its wings given to it to soar), let us pray to do nothing to deserve being brought into temptation.
This site's exposition
My son, walk not thou in the way with them
on Proverbs 1:15-19
Walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path repeats the father's language of a path or way that runs through the whole book, wisdom and folly both pictured as roads rather than doctrines. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird turns the warning back on the plotters themselves, birds who can see the trap avoid it, but these men, for all their cunning, cannot see that the trap is their own. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain closes the scene with the book's recurring verdict, that violence for profit finally takes the life of the one who set the snare.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Now, the Scripture saith, "Not unjustly are nets spread out for birds." This means that the man perishes justly, who, having a knowledge of the way of righteousness, rushes off into the way of darkness.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Surely in vain the net is spread," etc. Truly the snare of persecution or death is spread in vain for the elect, who have the wings of hope and charity and other virtues, by which they desire heavenly things while they live, so that they …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
A faithful and lively representation of wisdom's reasonings with the children of men, and the certain ruin of those who turn a deaf ear to those reasonings,
But the sinner sees ruin at the end of his way; the murderer, the thief, see the jail and the gallows before them, nay, they may see hell before them; their watchmen tell them they shall surely die, but it is to no purpose; they rush into sin, and rush on in it, like the horse into the battle.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Strictly speaking, this is the first proverb (i. e., similitude) in the book; a proverb which has received a variety of interpretations. The true meaning seems to be as follows: “For in vain, to no purpose, is the net spread out openly. Clear as the warning is, it is in vain. The birds still fly in.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A solemn warning against temptation. entice--literally, "open the way." consent . . . not--Sin is in consenting or yielding to temptation, not in being tempted.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Men warned ought to escape danger as birds instinctively avoid visibly spread nets. But stupid sinners rush to their own ruin (Ps 9:16), and, greedy of gain, succeed in the very schemes which destroy them (1Ti 6:10), not only failing to catch others, but procuring their own destruction.
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird - This is a proverb of which the wise man here makes a particular use; and the meaning does not seem as difficult as some imagine. The wicked are represented as lurking privily for the innocent. It is in this way alone that they can hope to destroy them and take their substance; for if their designs were known, proper precautions would be taken against them; for it would be vain to spread the net in the sight of those birds which men wish to ensnare. Attend therefore to my counsels, and they shall never be able to ensnare thee.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
run to evil They run to their own harm, and they do not know to pay heed to the matter.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
| חִ֭נָּם | chinom | in vain | H2600 → | 32 times |
| מְזֹרָ֣ה | mezorah | [is] spread out | H2219 → | 39 times |
| הָרָ֑שֶׁת | harashet | the net | H7568 → | |
| בְּ֝עֵינֵ֗י | beeinei | in [the] eyes of | H5869 → | 887 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בַּ֥עַל | baal | owner of | H1167 → | 84 times |
| כָּנָֽף׃ | kanaf | a wing | H3671 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
חִ֭נָּםin vain
chinomH2600 →32 times
מְזֹרָ֣ה[is] spread out
mezorahH2219 →39 times
הָרָ֑שֶׁתthe net
harashetH7568 →
בְּ֝עֵינֵ֗יin [the] eyes of
beeineiH5869 →887 times
כָל־every
khol-H3605 →5413 times
בַּ֥עַלowner of
baalH1167 →84 times
כָּנָֽף׃a wing
kanafH3671 →
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
Isaiah 1:3The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:12
At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 8:7
Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 4:22
“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Isaiah 44:18
They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Matthew 13:13–15
This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- Isaiah 5:12
Through
Jeremiah 8:7Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:3
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
- Isaiah 1:3
Through
Job 35:11who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
it leads to
- Psalms 94:12
Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,
- Psalms 94:12
Through
Proverbs 7:23until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 9:12
For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
- Ecclesiastes 9:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Proverbs
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter V; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, ON PRAYER 29:16.