Proverbs 1:17

Easy-to-Read Version

You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you spreading it out.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
It is useless to spread a netwhere any bird can see it,

Hebrew Names Version
For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:

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

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

New Century Version
It is useless to spread out a net right where the birds can see it.

New English Translation
Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird,

Amplified Bible
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net 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;

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

Geneva Bible (1587)
Certainely as without cause the net is spred before the eyes of all that hath wing:

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

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

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

Complete Jewish Bible
For in vain is the net baited if any bird can see it;

Darby Translation
For in vain the net is spread in the sight of anything which hath wings.

George Lamsa Translation
Surely in deceit is the net spread in 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,

Lexham English Bible
for "in vain is the net scattered, in the sight of any winged bird."

Literal Translation
For in vain the net is spread in the sight of every bird.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But in vayne is ye net layed forth before the byrdes eyes.

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

Bible in Basic English
Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For in vain the net is spread in the eyes of any bird;

King James Version (1611)
Surely in vaine the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But [as] in vayne, the nette is layde foorth before the birdes eyes:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
for nets are not without cause spread for birds.

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But a net is leid in veyn bifore the iyen of briddis, that han wengis.

Update Bible Version
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.

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

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

New Life Bible
Yes, the net is spread for nothing if the bird is watching.

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

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Surely, in vain, is spread the net, in the sight of aught that hath wings!

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

Revised Standard Version
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird;

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

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird;

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ My son, those who love to do wrong will try to trick you. Don't listen to them. ¹¹ They will say, "Come with us. Let's hide and beat to death anyone who happens to walk by. ¹² We will swallow them whole, as the grave swallows the dying. ¹³ We will take everything they have and fill our houses with stolen goods. ¹⁴ So join us, and you can share everything we get." ¹⁵ My son, don't follow them. Don't even take the first step along that path. ¹⁶ They run to do something evil, and they cannot wait to kill someone. ¹⁷ You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you spreading it out. ¹⁸ But evil people cannot see the trap they set for themselves. ¹⁹ This is what happens to those who are greedy. Whatever they get destroys them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

in vain: Proverbs 7:23, Job 35:11, Isaiah 1:3, Jeremiah 8:7

sight of any bird: Heb. eyes of everything that hath a wing

Reciprocal: Proverbs 6:5 - as a bird Proverbs 6:6 - the ant Proverbs 12:12 - desireth Proverbs 29:5 - spreadeth Jeremiah 5:26 - lay wait 1 Timothy 6:9 - snare 2 Peter 3:17 - seeing

Cross-References

Genesis 9:13
I am putting a rainbow in the clouds as proof of the agreement between me and the earth.

Job 38:12
"Did you ever in your life command the morning to begin or the day to dawn?

Psalms 8:1

To the director: With the gittith. A song of David.

Lord our Lord, your name is the most wonderful in all the earth! It brings you praise everywhere in heaven.

Psalms 8:3
I look at the heavens you made with your hands. I see the moon and the stars you created.

Acts 13:47
This is what the Lord told us to do: ‘I have made you a light for the other nations, to show people all over the world the way to be saved.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Or "without cause" y, as the word is rendered in Proverbs 1:11; and so the words are an illustration of the preceding; showing that the blood of innocent persons is shed without cause, no injury being done by them to those that do it, but is shed without any provocation at all; just as the net is spread for the innocent bird, which has done no harm to the fowler that seeks to take it; so Gersom: or else the sense is, that though the net is spread by the fowler even in the sight of the bird, yet it is in vain to the bird, though not to the fowler; it is so intent upon the corn that is spread about, that it takes no notice of the net, and so is caught in it; and thus it is with those men that are bent upon their sinful practices, upon theft and murder, though their ruin and destruction are before their eyes; and they daily see their companions in iniquity come to an untimely end; they know that they are liable to suffer death by the hand of the civil magistrate, and to be followed by the justice and vengeance of God, and suffer eternal punishment; yet take no warning hereby, but rush on to their own ruin, as follows.

y הנם "sine causa", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Strictly speaking, this is the first proverb (i. e., similitude) in the book; a proverb which has received a variety of interpretations. The true meaning seems to be as follows: “For in vain, to no purpose, is the net spread out openly. Clear as the warning is, it is in vain. The birds still fly in. The great net of God’s judgments is spread out, open to the eyes of all, and yet the doers of evil, willfully blind, still rush into it.” Others take the words as pointing to the failure of the plans of the evil-doers against the innocent (the “bird”): others, again, interpret the proverb of the young man who thinks that he at least shall not fall into the snares laid for him, and so goes blindly into them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 1:17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. — This is a proverb of which the wise man here makes a particular use; and the meaning does not seem as difficult as some imagine. The wicked are represented as lurking privily for the innocent. It is in this way alone that they can hope to destroy them and take their substance; for if their designs were known, proper precautions would be taken against them; for it would be vain to spread the net in the sight of those birds which men wish to ensnare. Attend therefore to my counsels, and they shall never be able to ensnare thee.