Proverbs 1:18
in Proverbs 1But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And these lay wait for their own blood; They lurk privily for their own lives.
KJV
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
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This verse in Proverbs 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd they lay wait for their own blood,.... While they lie in wait for the blood of others, they lie in wait for their own; and when they shed the blood of innocent persons, it in the issue comes upon their own heads, and is the cause of their own blood being shed; vengeance pursues them, and justice will not suffer them to live; they lurk privily for their own lives: while they are lurking in secret places to take away, the lives of others, they are laying snares for their own souls; and the consequence of it will be, that they will be brought to a shameful and untimely end here, or, however, to everlasting ruin and destruction hereafter.
This site's exposition
do not walk the road with them
on Proverbs 1:15-19
The command “do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path” uses the road and path language of the whole book. Verse 17 turns the warning on the plotters. Verse 19 closes with the book's verdict that “unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors”.
This site's exposition
they lie in wait for their own blood
The ambush turns back on the men who set it. John Gill reads the blood of this verse as their own, repaid by justice for the innocent blood they planned to shed in verse 11. Psalm 7:15 tells of the man who falls into the pit he dug.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
They themselves also lie in wait for their own blood, etc. For their own blood, that they may be punished with temporal death; but against their souls, he says, that they may also be condemned by the eternal perdition of their souls. This applies to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms, for in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he is the centre of all divine revelation, not only the essential Wisdom, but the eternal Word, by whom God speaks to us and to whom he has committed all judgment; he it is therefore who here both pleads with sinners and passes sentence on them.
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,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They lay wait for their own blood - I believe it is the innocent who are spoken of here, for whose blood and lives these lay wait and lurk privily; certainly not their own, by any mode of construction.
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.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭הֵם | vehem | and they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| לְדָמָ֣ם | ledamam | for own blood their | H1818 → | 360 times |
| יֶאֱרֹ֑בוּ | yeerou | they lie in wait | H693 → | 41 times |
| יִ֝צְפְּנ֗וּ | yitzpenu | they lie hidden | H6845 → | 32 times |
| לְנַפְשֹׁתָֽם׃ | lenafshotam | for own life their | H5315 → | 754 times |
וְ֭הֵםand they
vehemH1992 →553 times
לְדָמָ֣םfor own blood their
ledamamH1818 →360 times
יֶאֱרֹ֑בוּthey lie in wait
yeerouH693 →41 times
יִ֝צְפְּנ֗וּthey lie hidden
yitzpenuH6845 →32 times
לְנַפְשֹׁתָֽם׃for own life their
lenafshotamH5315 →754 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
Proverbs 28:17A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.
it leads to
- Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Exodus 21:14
But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
- Genesis 9:6
Through
Psalms 9:16The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah
it leads to
- Exodus 7:5
And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
- Proverbs 12:13
An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech, but a righteous man escapes from trouble.
- Exodus 7:5
Through
Esther 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:16
His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
- Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom…
- Judges 15:7
And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
- Ezekiel 5:13
And when My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath against them, I will be appeased. And when I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the LORD,…
- Psalms 7:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
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About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.