Proverbs 1:17
New International Version
How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it!

New Living Translation
If a bird sees a trap being set, it knows to stay away.

English Standard Version
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird,

Berean Standard Bible
How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

King James Bible
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

New King James Version
Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird;

New American Standard Bible
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

NASB 1995
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

NASB 1977
Indeed, it is useless to spread the net In the eyes of any bird;

Legacy Standard Bible
For it is no use that a net is spread In the sight of any bird;

Amplified Bible
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

Christian Standard Bible
It is useless to spread a net where any bird can see it,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
It is foolish to spread a net where any bird can see it,

American Standard Version
For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
It is by deceit that nets are spread for a bird.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
for nets are not without cause spread for birds.

Contemporary English Version
They are like a bird that sees the bait, but ignores the trap.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

English Revised Version
For in vain is the net spread, in the eyes of any bird:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
It does no good to spread a net within the sight of any bird.

Good News Translation
It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to catch is watching,

International Standard Version
Look, it is useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds,

JPS Tanakh 1917
For in vain the net is spread In the eyes of any bird;

Literal Standard Version
Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.

Majority Standard Bible
How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

New American Bible
In vain a net is spread right under the eyes of any bird—

NET Bible
Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird,

New Revised Standard Version
For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on;

New Heart English Bible
For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

Webster's Bible Translation
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

World English Bible
For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird;

Young's Literal Translation
Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Enticement of Sin
16For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. 17How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it! 18But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.…

Cross References
Proverbs 1:16
For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

Proverbs 1:18
But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.


Treasury of Scripture

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

in vain

Proverbs 7:23
Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

Job 35:11
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

Isaiah 1:3
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

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Proverbs 1
1. The use of the proverbs
7. An exhortation to fear God, and believe his word
10. to avoid the enticing of sinners
20. Wisdom complains of her contempt
24. She threatens her contemners














(17) Surely in vain . . .--The second reason: their folly in so doing, for God will bring punishment upon them; in the "same net which they hid privily will their foot be taken "(Psalm 9:15). Even birds are wiser than they. It is useless to spread a net in the sight of any bird.

Verse 17. - Surely in vain the net is spread in the face of any bird. The teacher here advances a second reason in support of his warning in ver. 15, under the form of a proverb in its strict sense. It is based on the ill-advised audacity of sinners in flying in the face of God's judgments. In vain (חִנָּם khinnam), see ver. 11, may be taken in two senses.

(1) I.e. to no purpose, gratis, frustra (Vulgate, Chaldee Paraphrase, Arabic). The meaning of the proverb here used then is, "to no purpose is the net spread before birds," i.e. though they see the net spread before them, they nevertheless fly into it (romp. Proverbs 7:23, "As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life"). So sinners, when they are plotting for others, plunge into their own destruction with their eyes open. Therefore do not associate with them, do not imitate their crass folly, be warned by their example, or you will share their fate. This view is supported by the LXX. reading, Οὐ γὰρ ἀδίκως ἐκτείνεται δίκτυα πτερωτοῖς, "For not unreasonably is the net spread before birds;" i.e. they fall into the snare (see Luther, Patrick, Umbreit, Ewatd, Hitzig, Zockler, Plumptre).

(2) Others, as Delitzsch, Ziegler, Beda, Doderlein, Bertheau, Wardlaw, take khinnam in a different sense, as indicating the escape of the birds - the birds see the snare and fly away, and so in vain the net is spread in their sight. This explanation is in agreement with Ovid's statement, "Quae nimis apparent retia vitat avis." The moral motive put before youth in this case is the aggravation of his guilt if he listens to the enticements of sinners. The teacher seems to say, "Imitate the birds, flee from temptation; if you listen to sinners, you will sin with your eyes open." Is spread; מְזֹרָה (m zorah), expansum, not conspersum est, i.e. besprinkled or strewn with corn as a bait, as Rashi. M'zorah is the participle passive of pual, זֹרָה (zorah), "to be strewn," from kal זָרָה (zarah). "to scatter, or disperse" (Gesenius), and means expansum, because when a net is scattered or dispersed it is spread out (see Delitzsch). Of any bird (כָּל־בַּעַל כָּנָפ khal-baal khanaph); literally, of every possessor of a wing, or, as margin, of everthing that hath a wing, i.e. of every bird. Compare the same expression in Ecclesiastes 10:20, בַּעַל חַכְּנָפַיִם (baal hach naphayim); i.e. "that which hath wings" (Authorized Version).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
How
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

futile
חִ֭נָּם (ḥin·nām)
Adverb
Strong's 2600: Gratis, devoid of cost, reason, advantage

to spread
מְזֹרָ֣ה (mə·zō·rāh)
Verb - Pual - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 2219: To toss about, to diffuse, winnow

the net
הָרָ֑שֶׁת (hā·rā·šeṯ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7568: A net

where any
כָל־ (ḵāl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

bird
בַּ֥עַל‪‬ (ba·‘al)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1167: A master, a husband, owner

can see it.
בְּ֝עֵינֵ֗י (bə·‘ê·nê)
Preposition-b | Noun - cdc
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 1:17 For in vain is the net spread (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 1:16
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