1 Samuel 24:11

24:11 Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning ¹  evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

1 Samuel 26:20

26:20 Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge ²  in the hill country.”

Psalms 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ³ 

I am discouraged. ⁴ 

They have dug a pit for me. ⁵ 

They will fall ⁶  into it! (Selah)

Jeremiah 5:26

5:26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people.

They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. ⁷ 

They set deadly traps ⁸  to catch people.

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ⁹  “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. ¹⁰ 

Lamentations 4:18

צ (Tsade)

4:18 Our enemies ¹¹  hunted us down at every step ¹² 

so that we could not walk about in our streets.

Our end drew near, our days were numbered, ¹³ 

for our end had come!

Habakkuk 1:15-17

1:15 The Babylonian tyrant ¹⁴  pulls them all up with a fishhook;

he hauls them in with his throw net. ¹⁵ 

When he catches ¹⁶  them in his dragnet,

he is very happy. ¹⁷ 

1:16 Because of his success ¹⁸  he offers sacrifices to his throw net

and burns incense to his dragnet; ¹⁹ 

for because of them he has plenty of food, ²⁰ 

and more than enough to eat. ²¹ 

1:17 Will he then ²²  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ²³ 

Will he always ²⁴  destroy ²⁵  nations and spare none? ²⁶ 

[24:11]  ¹ tn Heb “there is not in my hand.”

[26:20]  ² tn Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.

[57:6]  ³ tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ⁶ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.

[5:26]  ⁷ tn The meaning of the last three words is uncertain. The pointing and meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “hiding in ambush” is debated. BDB relates the form (כְּשַׁךְ, kÿshakh) to a root שָׁכַךְ (shakhakh), which elsewhere means “decrease, abate” (cf. BDB 1013 s.v. שָׁכַךְ), and notes that this is usually understood as “like the crouching of fowlers,” but they say this meaning is dubious. HALOT 1345 s.v. I שׁוֹר questions the validity of the text and offers three proposals; the second appears to create the least textual modification, i.e., reading כְּשַׂךְ (kesakh, “as in the hiding place of (bird catchers)”; for the word שַׂךְ (sakh) see HALOT 1236 s.v. שׂךְ 4 and compare Lam 2:6 for usage. The versions do not help. The Greek does not translate the first two words of the line. The proposal given in HALOT is accepted with some hesitancy.

[5:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “a destroying thing.”

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” The Lord has been speaking; the first person has been utilized in translation to avoid a shift which might create confusion.

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Behold I am about to send for many fishermen and they will catch them. And after that I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the cracks in the rocks.”

[4:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they”; this has been specified in the translation as “our enemies” for clarity.

[4:18]  ¹² tn Heb “they hunted our steps.”

[4:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “our days were full.”

[1:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Babylonian tyrant) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. NASB “The Chaldeans”; NIV “The wicked foe”; NRSV “The enemy”). Babylonian imperialism is here compared to a professional fisherman who repeatedly brings in his catch and has plenty to eat.

[1:15]  ¹⁵ tn Apparently two different types of fishing nets are referred to here. The חֵרֶם (kherem, “throw net”) was used by fishermen standing on the shore (see Ezek 47:10), while the מִכְמֶרֶת (mikhmeret, “dragnet”) was used by men in a boat. See R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 165.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he gathers.”

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Therefore he is happy and rejoices.” Here two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[1:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “therefore.”

[1:16]  ¹⁹ sn The fishing implements (throw net and dragnet) represent Babylonian military might. The prophet depicts the Babylonians as arrogantly worshiping their own power (sacrifices…burns incense, see also v. 11b).

[1:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for by them his portion is full [or, “fat”].”

[1:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “and his food is plentiful [or, “fat”].”

[1:17]  ²² tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ²³ tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ²⁴ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “without showing compassion.”