Proverbs 1:18

And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) And they lay wait.—Yet they cannot see that in truth they are laying wait, not for the innocent, but for themselves, as God will deliver him, and bring the mischief they designed for him upon their own head.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 1:18-19. And they lay wait, &c. — Assure thyself, such men are working their own ruin, and, as it were, lying in wait for themselves, when they lie in wait to take away the lives of others; for, in the end, they shall not escape the hand of justice, but be overtaken and suffer, either by a special vengeance of God, or by human punishment, what they have deserved. Let the young and unexperienced, who are entering into the paths of the world, treasure up this in their memories; let them write it on the table of their hearts; and, whenever they are solicited by any of their companions to do what their own conscience tells them is evil, let them not hesitate to bid such persons adieu that moment, for they spread snares for their destruction. So are the ways — The actions and courses; of every one that is greedy of gain — That seeks gain by unrighteous and wicked practices; which taketh away, &c. — Which greediness, or, rather, which gain, taketh away the life of the owners thereof — Brings sudden and certain destruction upon those who had made themselves masters and possessors of it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:10-19 Wicked people are zealous in seducing others into the paths of the destroyer: sinners love company in sin. But they have so much the more to answer for. How cautious young people should be! Consent thou not. Do not say as they say, nor do as they do, or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them. Who could think that it should be a pleasure to one man to destroy another! See their idea of worldly wealth; but it is neither substance, nor precious. It is the ruinous mistake of thousands, that they overvalue the wealth of this world. Men promise themselves in vain that sin will turn to their advantage. The way of sin is down-hill; men cannot stop themselves. Would young people shun temporal and eternal ruin, let them refuse to take one step in these destructive paths. Men's greediness of gain hurries them upon practices which will not suffer them or others to live out half their days. What is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? much less if he lose his soul?

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17-19. Men warned ought to escape danger as birds instinctively avoid visibly spread nets. But stupid sinners rush to their own ruin (Ps 9:16), and, greedy of gain, succeed in the very schemes which destroy them (1Ti 6:10), not only failing to catch others, but procuring their own destruction.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And, or but, or yet, or so; for all these ways this particle is used; which is more fully expressed in the next verse.

They lay wait for their own blood; the destruction which they design to others falls upon themselves. Their blood answers to their feet, Proverbs 1:16, and belongs to the same persons.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they lay wait for their own blood,.... While they lie in wait for the blood of others, they lie in wait for their own; and when they shed the blood of innocent persons, it in the issue comes upon their own heads, and is the cause of their own blood being shed; vengeance pursues them, and justice will not suffer them to live;

they lurk privily for their own lives: while they are lurking in secret places to take away, the lives of others, they are laying snares for their own souls; and the consequence of it will be, that they will be brought to a shameful and untimely end here, or, however, to everlasting ruin and destruction hereafter.

Geneva Study Bible

And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for {o} their own lives.

(o) He shows that there is no reason to move these wicked to spoil the innocent, aside from their malice and cruelty.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - And they lay wait for their own blood, etc. The third reason or argument why the teacher's warning should be followed, drawn from the destruction which overtakes the sinners themselves. "Lay wait," and "lurk privily," as in ver. 11, from which this verse is evidently borrowed. They propose, as they say, to lay wait for the blood of others; but it is, says the teacher, for their own blood. לְדָמָם (l'dhammam), contra sanguinem suum; they lurk privily. as they say, for the innocent, but in reality it is for their own lives; לְנַפְשֹׁתָם (l'naph'shotham); contra animus suas (Vulgate); or, as the LXX. puts it, Αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἱ φόνον μετέχοντες θησαυρίζουσιν ἑαυτοῖς κατὰ, "For they who take part in murder treasure up evils for themselves;" that is, they am bringing a heavier and surer destruction upon themselves than they can ever inflict upon others (Wardlaw). The LXX. adds, at the close of the verse, Ἡ δὲ καταστροφὴ ἀνδρῶν παρανόμων κακή, "And the overthrowing or destruction of transgressors is wrest, or evil." The Arabic Version has a similar addition. Proverbs 1:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The causal conj. כּי (for) in Proverbs 1:16 and Proverbs 1:17 are coordinated; and there now follows, introduced by the conj. ו ("and"), a third reason for the warning:

And they lie in wait for their own blood,

They lay snares for their own lives.

The warning of Proverbs 1:16 is founded on the immorality of the conduct of the enticer; that of Proverbs 1:17 on the audaciousness of the seduction as such, and now on the self-destruction which the robber and murderer bring upon themselves: they wish to murder others, but, as the result shows, they only murder themselves. The expression is shaped after Proverbs 1:11, as if it were: They lay snares, as they themselves say, for the blood of others; but it is in reality for their own blood: they certainly lie in wait, as they say; but not, as they add, for the innocent, but for their own lives (Fl.). Instead of לדמם, there might be used לדמיהם, after Micah 7:2; but לנפשׁם would signify ipsis (post-biblical, לעצמם), while לנפשׁתם leaves unobliterated the idea of the life: animis ipsorum; for if the O.T. language seeks to express ipse in any other way than by the personal pronoun spoken emphatically, this is done by the addition of נפשׁ (Isaiah 53:11). המו was on this account necessary, because Proverbs 1:17 has another subject (cf. Psalm 63:10).