in vain, &c.. it avails not. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6. The sight of the net does not deter the birds. They (emphatic) still go on to their capture and death. The next verse requires this sense. So men go on in their evil ways, though they know it is to their own ruin (Proverbs 1:18).
Related Commentaries of Proverbs 1:17
Proverbs 1:17
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.