Proverbs 1:17
15 my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.
16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!
18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush their own lives.
19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!
- KJV
- Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
- WEB
- For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird;
- ASV
- For in vain is the net spread In the sight of any bird:
- DARBY
- For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.
- BLB
- For the net is spread in vain in the eyes of any owner of the wing,
- ÅB
- til ingen nytte blir garnet utspent så alle fuglene ser det;
- OTB
- Hvor fåfengt det er å spre et nett i full utsikt for alle fuglene!
- B1930
- til ingen nytte blir garnet utspent så alle fuglene ser det;
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Job 35:11
who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
Read in contextJeremiah 8:7
Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
Read in contextProverbs 7:23
until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare— not knowing it will cost him his life.
Read in contextIsaiah 1:3
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
Read in context