Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 18:8
For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
8 11. All things hasten on his ruin; the moral order of the world is such that wherever he moves or touches upon it it becomes a snare to seize him. “Snares” do not mean temptations, they are hidden instruments of destruction that seize and hold the hunted creature. His “counsel,” and his own feet ( Job 18:8), his evil nature and its outcome, his evil conduct, carry him into these snares laid for wickedness in the constitution of things.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For he is cast into a net by his own feet – He is caught in his own tricks, as if he had spread a net or dug a pitfall for another, and had fallen into it himself. The meaning is, that he would bring ruin upon himself while he was plotting the rain of others; see Psa 9:16, The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands; compare the note at Job 5:13. The phrase by his own feet here means, that he walks there himself. He is not led or driven by others, but he goes himself into the net. Wild animals are sometimes driven, but he walks along of his own accord into the net, and has no one to blame but himself.
And he walketh upon a snare – Or a pitfall. This was formerly the mode of taking wild beasts. It was done by excavating a place in the earth, and covering it over with turf, leaves, etc. supported in a slender manner; so that the lion, or elephant or tiger that should tread on it, would fall through. These methods of taking wild beasts have been practiced from the earliest times, and are practiced everywhere.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. For he is cast into a net] His own conduct will infallibly bring him to ruin. He shall be like a wild beast taken in a net; the more he flounces in order to extricate himself, the more he shall be entangled.
He walketh upon a snare.] He is continually walking on the meshes of a net, by which he must soon be entangled and overthrown.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By his own feet; by his own choice, and design, and actions.
He walketh upon a snare; and therefore must needs be entangled and destroyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. he walketh uponrather, “helets himself go into the net” [UMBREIT].If the English Version be retained, then understand “snare”to be the pitfall, covered over with branches and earth, which whenwalked upon give way (Psa 9:15;Psa 35:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he is cast into a net by his own feet,…. He goes into it of himself, incautious and imprudent; the counsels, schemes, and methods he takes to hurt others, issue in his own ruin; the pit he digs for them, he falls and sinks into himself; and the net which he has spread and hid for others, in it is his own foot taken; and the ways and means he takes to do himself good, to amass riches and advance his family, being illicit ones, prove snares and nets unto him, those leading him into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which bring him to perdition, Ps 9:15; even the various sins and transgressions he commits are snares unto him, by which he is enticed and drawn in: for in “the transgression of an evil man there is a snare”, Pr 29:6; these promise him peace, and pleasure, and liberty, but give neither; they are nets in which he is entangled, and cords by which he is held, Ps 9:15; into which his own feet carry him: some render it, “he goes with a net at his feet” n, or with his feet in a net; he cannot go where he would, or do as he pleases; he is restrained by the providence of God; as the devils are held in chains, so the feet of wicked men are entangled in a net, that they cannot move and act as they are desirous of:
and he walketh upon a snare: laid for him, and hidden to him, and therefore walks on boldly and unconcerned, not being apprehensive of any danger, though greatly exposed to it; he walks on as on firm and good ground, and in a broad road, but destruction and misery are in his ways; yet he walks on of himself willingly, and with all his strength, pleasing himself in the path he treads, not dreaming of the mischief that awaits him; or “upon a thicket” o of thorns and briers, his sins and iniquities with which he is entangled, and out of which he cannot extricate himself, or afflictive providences with which his way is hedged up; though the former sense seems best; Mr. Broughton renders it, “a platted gin”.
n “nam it cum reti in pedibus suis”, Cocceius. o “in perplexo”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8 For he is driven into the net by his own feet,
And he walketh over a snare.
9 The trap holdeth his heel fast,
The noose bindeth him.
10 His snare lieth hidden in the earth,
His nets upon the path;
11 Terrors affright him on every side,
And scare him at every step.
The Pual signifies not merely to be betrayed into, but driven into, like the Piel, Job 30:12, to drive away, and as it is to be translated in the similar passage in the song of Deborah, Jdg 5:15: “And as Issachar, Barak was driven (i.e., with desire for fighting) behind him down into the valley (the place of meeting under Mount Tabor);” , which there signifies, according to Jdg 4:10; Jdg 8:5, ”upon his feet = close behind him,” is here intended of the intermediate cause: by his own feet he is hurried into the net, i.e., against his will, and yet with his own feet he runs into destruction. The same thing is said in Job 18:8; the way on which he complacently wanders up and down (which the Hithp. signifies here) is , lattice-work, here a snare (Arab. schabacah , a net, from , schabaca , to intertwine, weave), and consequently will suddenly break in and bring him to ruin. This fact of delivering himself over to destruction is established in apocopated futt. (Job 18:9) used as praes., and without the voluntative signification in accordance with the poetic licence: a trap catches a heel (poetic brevity for: the trap catches his heel), a noose seizes upon him, (but with the accompanying notion of overpowering him, which the translation “bind” is intended to express). Such is the meaning of here, which is not plur., but sing., from (Arab. dmm ), to tie, and it unites in itself the meanings of snare-layer (Job 5:5) and of snare; the form (as , ) corresponds more to the former, but does not, however, exclude the latter, as and ( ) show.
The continuation in Job 18:10 of the figure of the fowler affirms that that issue of his life (Job 18:9) has been preparing long beforehand; the prosperity of the evil-doer from the beginning tends towards ruin. Instead of we have the pointing , as it would be in Arab. in a similar sense hhabluhu (from hhabl , a cord, a net). The nearer destruction is now to him, the stronger is the hold which his foreboding has over him, since, as Job 18:11 adds, terrible thoughts ( ) and terrible apparitions fill him with dismay, and haunt him, following upon his feet. , close behind him, as Gen 30:30; 1Sa 25:42; Isa 41:2; Hab 3:5. The best authorized pointing of the verb is , with Segol (Ges. 104, 2, c), Chateph-Segol, and Kibbutz. Except in Hab 3:14, where the prophet includes himself with his people, , diffundere, dissipare (vid., Job 37:11; Job 40:11), never has a person as its obj. elsewhere. It would also probably not be used, but for the idea that the spectres of terror pursue him at every step, and are now here, now there, and his person is as it were multiplied.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(8) He is cast into a net.Job had compared himself to one hunted by the Almighty (Job. 10:16), and Bildad here describes the evil man as snared in a net, but it is one for which he has no one to thank but himself. It is his own pit he falls into; the insinuation being that Job is likewise responsible for his calamities, which are the punishment of his sin. It is to be observed that in this and the following verses the speaker heaps together every word he can find descriptive of the art of snaring.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Walketh upon a snare His terra firma is but earth-covered “ latticework” ( ) over a pitfall concealing an unfathomable abyss.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 18:8. For he is cast into a net The metaphor is taken from a beast, which the hunters have driven into the toils. He runs here and there, striving to find a way out; but the net entangles him more and more, till at length it fastens upon him. Heath: who translates the last clause, he runneth to and fro in the toils; and he observes well, that, the word robber, in the next verse, having no relation to the preceding metaphor, it would be rendered more properly, and the noose fasteneth close upon him. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Ver. 8. For he is cast into a net by his own feet ] Wicked men are even ambitious for destruction; judgments need not go to find them out; they run to meet their bane. Divine justice and their own indiscretion undo them. He hath sent his feet into the net, so the Vulgate rendereth it. He is sent into a net by his own feet, so Mr Broughton. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins,” Pro 5:22 ; these shall cast him into inextricable straits.
And he walketh upon a snare
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
walketh = walketh habitually.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he is cast: Job 22:10, Est 3:9, Est 6:13, Est 7:5, Est 7:10, Psa 9:15, Psa 35:8, Pro 5:22, Pro 29:6, Eze 32:3, 1Ti 3:7, 1Ti 6:9, 2Ti 2:26
Reciprocal: 2Sa 18:9 – taken up Job 19:6 – compassed Psa 35:7 – hid Pro 4:12 – thou goest Pro 22:5 – Thorns Ecc 9:12 – the sons Isa 24:18 – he who fleeth Lam 1:13 – he hath spread
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 18:8. He is cast into a net by his own feet By his own choice, design, and actions. And he walketh upon a snare Or, as the words may be rendered, runneth to and fro on the toils, and therefore must needs be entangled and destroyed. The metaphor says Heath, is taken from a beast, which the hunters have driven into the toils. He runs hither and thither, striving to find a way out, but the net entangles him more and more, till at length it fastens upon him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he {f} walketh upon a snare.
(f) Meaning, that the wicked are in continual danger.