Jeremiah 5:26 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Among my people are found wicked men; I need not search for such among the heathen nations, for they are found even among them that are called by my name, whereas all my people ought to have been holy. They lay wait, or contemplate mischievous designs, under deceits, as fowlers do hide themselves, when they watch the birds coming to the snare or net, Proverbs 1:11 Micah 7:2; and therefore the next expression, he that setteth snares, is but a periphrasis for a fowler, the Hebrew word being always so taken, Psalms 91:3 Proverbs 6:5, and elsewhere; or they pry, i.e. they narrowly look where they may get an advantage; hence enemies are called priers, or observers, as you may frequently find in the Psalms Psalms 5:8, Psalms 27:11 56:2 59:10 92:11. They set a trap, they catch men; intimating the success of their wicked policies in bringing their wicked decrees to pass, Psalms 37:7, as false witnesses and trespassers use to do, when they go about to insnare men that are innocent; such a trap did Jezebel lay for Naboth, 1 Kings 21:9,10. Such a one was that conspiracy of more than forty men against Paul, Acts 23:13-15.