Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
(Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird) - Hebrew, 'any master of a wing,' (cf. margin.) In vain those sinners lay snares for as many godly men as they can; not one of these is taken: but the sinners themselves are caught in their own snare (cf. Proverbs 1:11 with Proverbs 1:18). The "in vain" of Solomon here answers, in caustic irony, to the 'in vain' (the English version, "without cause"), Proverbs 1:11, of the sinners' plotting. They say, the godly are 'innocent in vain,' but it is themselves who 'spread their net in vain.'