Proverbs 1:17

New International Version (1984 Edition)

How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!

Parallel Translations

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.

Easy-to-Read Version
You cannot trap birds with a net if they see you spreading it out.

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

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

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:

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

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

George Lamsa Translation
Surely in deceit is the net spread in the sight of any bird.

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:

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it.

Amplified 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:

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

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

Good News Translation
It does no good to spread a net when the bird you want to catch is watching,

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

King James Version
Surely in vain the net is 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,

New International Version
How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it!

New American Standard Bible
Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net 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.

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.

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.

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;

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;

Christian Standard Bible®
It is foolish to spread a net where any bird can see it,

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

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

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

¹⁰My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. ¹¹If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul; ¹²let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; ¹³we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; ¹⁴throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"- ¹⁵my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; ¹⁶for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. ¹⁷How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!¹⁸These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! ¹⁹Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it.

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 have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Job 38:12
"Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

Psalms 8:1
O LORD , our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psalms 8:3
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

Acts 13:47
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: " 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' "

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.