Ezekiel 12:13

12:13 But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans ¹  (but he will not see it), ²  and there he will die. ³ 

Ezekiel 17:20

17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.

Ecclesiastes 9:12

9:12 Surely, no one ⁴  knows his appointed time! ⁵ 

Like fish that are caught in a deadly ⁶  net, and like birds that are caught in a snare –

just like them, all people ⁷  are ensnared ⁸  at an unfortunate ⁹  time that falls upon them suddenly.

Jeremiah 16:16

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: ¹⁰  “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. ¹¹ 

Lamentations 1:13

מ (Mem)

1:13 He sent down fire ¹² 

into my bones, and it overcame ¹³  them.

He spread out a trapper’s net ¹⁴  for my feet;

he made me turn back.

He has made me desolate;

I am faint all day long.

Hosea 7:12

7:12 I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying,

I will bring them down like birds in the sky;

I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.

Habakkuk 1:14-17

1:14 You made people like fish in the sea,

like animals in the sea ¹⁵  that have no ruler.

1:15 The Babylonian tyrant ¹⁶  pulls them all up with a fishhook;

he hauls them in with his throw net. ¹⁷ 

When he catches ¹⁸  them in his dragnet,

he is very happy. ¹⁹ 

1:16 Because of his success ²⁰  he offers sacrifices to his throw net

and burns incense to his dragnet; ²¹ 

for because of them he has plenty of food, ²² 

and more than enough to eat. ²³ 

1:17 Will he then ²⁴  continue to fill and empty his throw net? ²⁵ 

Will he always ²⁶  destroy ²⁷  nations and spare none? ²⁸ 

[12:13]  ¹ tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).

[12:13]  ² sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.

[12:13]  ³ sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).

[9:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “man.” The term is used here in a generic sense and translated “no one.”

[9:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “time.” BDB 773 s.v. עֵת 2.d suggests that עֵת (’et, “time”) refers to an “uncertain time.” On the other hand, HALOT 901 s.v. עֵת 6 nuances it as “destined time,” that is, “no one knows his destined time [i.e., hour of destiny].” It is used in parallelism with זְמָן (zÿman, “appointed time; appointed hour”) in 3:1 (HALOT 273 s.v. זְמָן; BDB 273 s.v. זְמָן). Eccl 3:9-15 teaches God’s sovereignty over the appointed time-table of human events. Similarly, Qoheleth here notes that no one knows what God has appointed in any situation or time. This highlights the limitations of human wisdom and human ability, as 9:11 stresses.

[9:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “bad, evil.” The moral connotation hardly fits here. The adjective would seem to indicate that the net is the instrument whereby the fish come to ruin.

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[9:12]  ⁸ tn The Masoretes pointed the consonantal form יוקשׁים (“are ensnared”) as יוּקָשִׁים (yuqashim, Pual participle mpl from ַָיקֹשׁ, yaqosh, “to be ensnared”). This is an unusual form for a Pual participle: (1) The characteristic doubling of the middle consonant was omitted due to the lengthening of the preceding short vowel from יֻקָּשִׁים to יוּקָשִׁים (GKC 74 §20.n and 143 §52.s), and (2) The characteristic prefix מְ (mem) is absent, as in a few other Pual participles, e.g., Exod 3:2; Judg 13:8; 2 Kgs 2:10; Isa 30:24; 54:11 (GKC 143 §52.s). On the other hand, the consonant form יוקשים might actually be an example of the old Qal passive participle which dropped out of Hebrew at an early stage, and was frequently mistaken by the Masoretes as a Pual form (e.g., Jer 13:10; 23:32) (GKC 143 §52.s). Similarly, the Masoretes pointed אכל as אֻכָּל (’ukkal, Pual perfect 3rd person masculine singular “he was eaten”); however, it probably should be pointed אֻכַל (’ukhal, old Qal passive perfect 3rd person masculine singular “he was eaten”) because אָכַל (’akhal) only occurs in the Qal (see IBHS 373-74 §22.6a).

[9:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “evil.” The term רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil; unfortunate”) is repeated in v. 12 in the two parts of the comparison: “fish are caught in an evil (רָעָה) net” and “men are ensnared at an unfortunate (רָעָה) time.”

[16:16]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.”

[1:13]  ¹² tn Heb “He sent fire from on high.” Normally God sends fire from heaven. The idiom מִמָּרוֹם (mimmarom, “from on high”) can still suggest the location but as an idiom may focus on the quality of the referent. For example, “to speak from on high” means “to presume to speak as if from heaven” = arrogantly (Ps 73:8); “they fight against me from on high” = proudly (Ps 56:3) (BDB 928-29 s.v. מָרוֹם). As a potential locative, מִמָּרוֹם (mimmarom, “from on high”) designates God as the agent; idiomatically the same term paints him as pitiless.

[1:13]  ¹³ tc The MT reads וַיִּרְדֶּנָּה (vayyirdennah, “it prevailed against them”), representing a vav (ו) consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person feminine plural suffix from רָדָה (radah, “to prevail”). The LXX κατήγαγεν αὐτό (kathgagen auto, “it descended”) reflects an alternate vocalization tradition of וַיֹּרִדֶנָּה (vayyoridennah, “it descended against them”), representing a vav (ו) consecutive + Hiphil preterite 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person feminine plural suffix from יָרָד (yarad, “to go down”), or הֹרִידָהּ (horidah, “it descended against her”), a Hiphil perfect ms + 3rd person feminine singular suffix from from יָרָד (yarad, “to go down”). Internal evidence favors the MT. The origin of the LXX vocalization can be explained by the influence of the preceding line, “He sent down fire from on high.”

[1:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “net.” The term “trapper’s” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word רֶמֶשׂ (remesh) usually refers to animals that creep, but here the referent seems to be marine animals that glide through the water (note the parallelism in the previous line). See also Ps 104:25.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he gathers.”

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Therefore he is happy and rejoices.” Here two synonyms are joined for emphasis.

[1:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “therefore.”

[1:16]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “for by them his portion is full [or, “fat”].”

[1:16]  ²³ tn Heb “and his food is plentiful [or, “fat”].”

[1:17]  ²⁴ tn Or “therefore.”

[1:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Will he then empty his throw net?” The words “continue to fill and” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “continually.”

[1:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “kill.”

[1:17]  ²⁸ tn Or “without showing compassion.”