For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.
- KJV For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
- NKJV For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare.
- NASB “For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing.
- NLT The wicked walk into a net. They fall into a pit.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked man is caught in a net by his own feet, wandering into the trap. His own steps lead him into snares.
Overview
Bildad uses hunting imagery to show the godless ensnared as he walks, entangled in a mesh of his own making. The picture conveys inescapable judgment closing in. Scripture often warns that the wicked are trapped by their own sin (Proverbs 5:22), a sober truth, though Bildad misapplies it to the innocent Job.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 9:15The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- Ps 35:8May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
- Job 22:10Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you;
- Esth 6:13Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”
- Prov 29:6An evil man is caught by his own sin, but a righteous one sings and rejoices.
- Ezek 32:3This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they will draw you up in My net.
- 1 Tim 6:9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
- Prov 5:22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- 1 Tim 3:7Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
- 2 Tim 2:26Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
- Esth 7:5Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”
- Esth 3:9If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 18:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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