Psalms 9:15-16

9:15 The nations fell ¹  into the pit they had made;

their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. ² 

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ³  (Higgaion. ⁴  Selah)

Psalms 10:2

10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; ⁵ 

the oppressed are trapped ⁶  by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. ⁷ 

Psalms 35:8

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ⁸ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ⁹ 

Psalms 94:13

94:13 in order to protect him from times of trouble, ¹⁰ 

until the wicked are destroyed. ¹¹ 

Psalms 140:9-10

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –

may the harm done by ¹²  their lips overwhelm them!

140:10 May he rain down ¹³  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 141:10

141:10 Let the wicked fall ¹⁵  into their ¹⁶  own nets,

while I escape. ¹⁷ 

Esther 7:10

7:10 So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.

Job 4:8

4:8 Even as I have seen, ¹⁸  those who plow ¹⁹  iniquity ²⁰ 

and those who sow trouble reap the same. ²¹ 

Proverbs 5:22

5:22 The wicked ²²  will be captured by his ²³  own iniquities, ²⁴ 

and he will be held ²⁵  by the cords of his own sin. ²⁶ 

Proverbs 26:27

26:27 The one who digs a pit ²⁷  will fall into it;

the one who rolls a stone – it will come back on him.

Ecclesiastes 10:8-9

Wisdom is Needed to Avert Dangers in Everyday Life

10:8 One who digs a pit may ²⁸  fall into it,

and one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. ²⁹ 

10:9 One who quarries stones may be injured by them;

one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “sank down.”

[9:15]  ² sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.

[9:16]  ³ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ⁴ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.

[10:2]  ⁶ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).

[35:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ⁹ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[94:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”

[94:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “until a pit is dug for the wicked.”

[140:9]  ¹² tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.

[140:10]  ¹³ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.

[141:10]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer. Another option is to translate, “the wicked will fall.”

[141:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his.”

[141:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “at the same [that] I, until I pass by.” Another option is to take יַחַד (yakhad) with the preceding line, “let the wicked fall together into their own nets.”

[4:8]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.

[4:8]  ¹⁹ sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.

[4:8]  ²⁰ tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”

[4:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “reap it.”

[5:22]  ²² 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).

[5:22]  ²³ 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.

[5:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his own iniquities will capture the wicked.” The translation shifts the syntax for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[5:22]  ²⁵ 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.

[5:22]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew is structured chiastically: “his own iniquities will capture the wicked, by the cords of his own sin will he be held.”

[26:27]  ²⁷ sn The verse is teaching talionic justice (“an eye for an eye,” etc.), and so the activities described should be interpreted as evil in their intent. “Digging a pit” would mean laying a trap for someone (the figure of speech would be a metonymy of cause for the effect of ruining someone, if an actual pit is being dug; the figure would be hypocatastasis if digging a pit is being compared to laying a trap, but no pit is being dug). Likewise, “rolling a stone” on someone means to destroy that individual.

[10:8]  ²⁸ tn The four imperfect verbs in vv. 8-9 may be nuanced as indicatives (“will…”) or in a modal sense denoting possibility (“may…”). The LXX rendered them with indicatives, as do many English translations (KJV, RSV, NRSV, ASV, MLB, YLT, NJPS). However, it is better to take them in a modal sense (NEB, NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT). One who digs a pit does not necessarily fall into it, but he may under the right conditions.

[10:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a serpent will bite him.” The clause “he who breaks through a wall” (וּפֹרֵץ גָּדֵר, uforets gader) is a nominative absolute – the casus pendens is picked up by the resumptive pronoun in the following clause “a serpent will bite him” (יִשְּׁכֶנּוּ נָחָשׁ, yishÿkhennu nakhash). This construction is used for rhetorical emphasis (see IBHS 76-77 §4.7c).