For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.
- BSB For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.
- 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 heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
- Ps 35:8Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
- Job 22:10Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
- Esth 6:13And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
- Prov 29:6In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.
- Ezek 32:3Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
- 1 Tim 6:9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
- Prov 5:22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
- 1 Tim 3:7Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
- 2 Tim 2:26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
- Esth 7:5Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
- Esth 3:9If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.