Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ¹ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Psalms 56:5-6

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ² 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ³ 

56:6 They stalk ⁴  and lurk; ⁵ 

they watch my every step, ⁶ 

as ⁷  they prepare to take my life. ⁸ 

Psalms 140:5

140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;

evil men ⁹  spread a net by the path;

they set traps for me. (Selah)

Isaiah 29:21

29:21 those who bear false testimony against a person, ¹⁰ 

who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate ¹¹ 

and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. ¹² 

Jeremiah 18:18

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ¹³  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ¹⁴  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ¹⁵  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ¹⁶  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

Matthew 22:15-16

Paying Taxes to Caesar

22:15 Then the Pharisees ¹⁷  went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. ¹⁸  22:16 They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, ¹⁹  saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²⁰  You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. ²¹ 

Luke 11:54

11:54 plotting against ²²  him, to catch ²³  him in something he might say.

Luke 20:20-26

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20:20 Then ²⁴  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ²⁵  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ²⁶  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ²⁷  of the governor. 20:21 Thus ²⁸  they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, ²⁹  and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ³⁰  20:22 Is it right ³¹  for us to pay the tribute tax ³²  to Caesar ³³  or not?” 20:23 But Jesus ³⁴  perceived their deceit ³⁵  and said to them, 20:24 “Show me a denarius. ³⁶  Whose image ³⁷  and inscription are on it?” ³⁸  They said, “Caesar’s.” 20:25 So ³⁹  he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ⁴⁰  20:26 Thus ⁴¹  they were unable in the presence of the people to trap ⁴²  him with his own words. ⁴³  And stunned ⁴⁴  by his answer, they fell silent.

[38:12]  ¹ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[56:5]  ² tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ³ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[56:6]  ⁴ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ⁵ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[140:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).

[29:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”

[29:21]  ¹¹ sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.

[29:21]  ¹² tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

[18:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[22:15]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[22:15]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “trap him in word.”

[22:16]  ¹⁹ sn The Herodians are mentioned in the NT only once in Matt (22:16 = Mark 12:13) and twice in Mark (3:6; 12:13; some mss also read “Herodians” instead of “Herod” in Mark 8:15). It is generally assumed that as a group the Herodians were Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (or of Herod Antipas in particular). In every instance they are linked with the Pharisees. This probably reflects agreement regarding political objectives (nationalism as opposed to submission to the yoke of Roman oppression) rather than philosophy or religious beliefs.

[22:16]  ²⁰ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[22:16]  ²¹ tn Grk “And it is not a concern to you about anyone because you do not see the face of men.”

[11:54]  ²² tn Grk “lying in ambush against,” but this is a figurative extension of that meaning.

[11:54]  ²³ tn This term was often used in a hunting context (BDAG 455 s.v. θηρεύω; L&N 27.30). Later examples of this appear in Luke 20.

[20:20]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:20]  ²⁵ tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.

[20:20]  ²⁶ tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”

[20:20]  ²⁷ tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).

[20:21]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the plans by the spies.

[20:21]  ²⁹ tn Or “precisely”; Grk “rightly.” Jesus teaches exactly, the straight and narrow.

[20:21]  ³⁰ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

[20:22]  ³¹ tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.

[20:22]  ³² tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

[20:22]  ³³ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[20:23]  ³⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:23]  ³⁵ tn Or “craftiness.” The term always has negative connotations in the NT (1 Cor 3:19; 2 Cor 4:2; 11:3; Eph 4:14).

[20:24]  ³⁶ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.

[20:24]  ³⁷ tn Or “whose likeness.”

[20:24]  ³⁸ tn Grk “whose likeness and inscription does it have?”

[20:25]  ³⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ pronouncement results from the opponents’ answer to his question.

[20:25]  ⁴⁰ sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.

[20:26]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ unexpected answer.

[20:26]  ⁴² tn On this term, see BDAG 374 s.v. ἐπιλαμβάνομαι 3.

[20:26]  ⁴³ tn Grk “to trap him in a saying.”

[20:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “amazed.”