1 Kings 2:32-33

2:32 May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; ¹  behind my father David’s back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he ²  – Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 2:33 May Joab and his descendants be perpetually guilty of their shed blood, but may the Lord give perpetual peace to David, his descendants, his family, ³  and his dynasty.” ⁴ 

Psalms 7:16

7:16 He becomes the victim of his own destructive plans ⁵ 

and the violence he intended for others falls on his own head. ⁶ 

Proverbs 5:22

5:22 The wicked ⁷  will be captured by his ⁸  own iniquities, ⁹ 

and he will be held ¹⁰  by the cords of his own sin. ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 17:19

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ¹²  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!

Hosea 4:9

4:9 I will deal with the people and priests together: ¹³ 

I will punish them both for their ways,

and I will repay them for their deeds.

¹ tn Heb “The Lord will cause his blood to return upon his head.”

² tn Heb “because he struck down two men more innocent and better than he and he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know.”

³ tn Heb “house.”

⁴ tn Heb “his throne.”

⁵ tn Heb “his harm [i.e., the harm he conceived for others, see v. 14] returns on his head.”

⁶ tn Heb “and on his forehead his violence [i.e., the violence he intended to do to others] comes down.”

⁷ tn The suffix on the verb is the direct object suffix; “the wicked” is a second object by apposition: They capture him, the wicked. Since “the wicked” is not found in the LXX, it could be an old scribal error; or the Greek translator may have simply smoothed out the sentence. C. H. Toy suggests turning the sentence into a passive idea: “The wicked will be caught in his iniquities” (Proverbs [ICC], 117).

⁸ tn The word is the subject of the clause, but the pronominal suffix has no clear referent. The suffix is proleptic, referring to the wicked.

⁹ tn Heb “his own iniquities will capture the wicked.” The translation shifts the syntax for the sake of smoothness and readability.

¹⁰ sn The lack of discipline and control in the area of sexual gratification is destructive. The one who plays with this kind of sin will become ensnared by it and led to ruin.

¹¹ tn The Hebrew is structured chiastically: “his own iniquities will capture the wicked, by the cords of his own sin will he be held.”

¹² tn Heb “place it on his head.”

¹³ tn Heb “And it shall be, like people, like priest” (so ASV); NAB “The priests shall fare no better than the people.”