57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; 1
I am discouraged. 2
They have dug a pit for me. 3
They will fall 4 into it! (Selah)
140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;
evil men 5 spread a net by the path;
they set traps for me. (Selah)
10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; 6
he lies in ambush, waiting to catch 7 the oppressed;
he catches the oppressed 8 by pulling in his net. 9
1 tn Heb “for my feet.”
2 tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
3 tn Heb “before me.”
4 tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.
5 tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).
6 tn Or “in its den.”
7 tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.
8 tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.
9 tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”
sn The background of the imagery is hunting, where the hunter uses a net to entrap an unsuspecting bird or wild animal.