Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it. Whoever rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
- BSB He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
- NKJV Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
- NASB One who digs a pit will fall into it, And one who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
- NLT If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will crush you instead.
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
Whoever digs a pit or rolls a stone to harm others will be caught by it themselves. Malice rebounds on the one who plots it.
Overview
This proverb expresses the principle of retributive justice: schemes to harm others tend to recoil upon their authors (Ps 7:15-16). It reflects the moral order God has woven into the world. It assures believers that evil will not finally prosper but returns upon the wicked.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 28:10Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
- 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 7:15–16He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
- Ps 10:2The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
- Eccl 10:8He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
- Ps 57:6They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 26:27 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.