TRAP (פַּח֒, H7062, bird-trap; חֶ֫בֶל֮, H2475, cord; מﯴקֵשׁ, H4613; Gr. πάγις snare; βρόχος, G1105, noose, are the most common words). Seven Heb. words and two Gr. words are tr. “snare” in the KJV. In the RSV there is more careful differentiation. In the large majority of contexts the meaning is poetical or metaphorical. The most common form of trap in the mind of the writers is the automatic birdnet, the “snare of the fowler” (Job 18:8; Ps 69:22; 91:3; 124:7; 140:5; Prov 6:5; 7:23; 12:13; Hos 9:8; Luke 21:34; 1 Tim 3:7; 6:9; 2 Tim 2:26). In most cases the Heb. פַּח֒, H7062, with its common Gr. rendering (so LXX) πάγις, is the word used. (For an exhaustive list of OT contexts see BDB s.v. p. 809.)

The common form of bird trap or netting device is familiar from Egyp. illustrations. It was a piece of net mounted to spring up and envelop the bird when it alighted on a tripstick or some other form of trigger (Ps 141:9; Ezek 12:13; Amos 3:5). Note the illustration of sudden contrived disaster and catastrophe to which the victim thoughtlessly and unwarily exposed himself when in search for imagined or illusory advantage.

Another form of trap was the noose carefully set on the “run” of a bird or an animal and designed to tighten around the neck by the creature’s own forward momentum (Job 18:10; 1 Cor 7:35). This form of trapping device seems to be the metaphor behind Proverbs 22:8. Ezekiel 17:20 may refer to a noose falling from above, though it could as likely be a descending net, falling as the victim entangled his feet in some low-lying trigger. Or, perhaps the fowler concealed in ambush pulled a releasing string when the birds ventured under the suspended net (Prov 1:17, 18).

A camouflaged pit was another form of snare or trap used for the capture of unwary animals (2 Sam 17:9; Isa 24:17, 18; 42:22; Jer 18:22; 48:43, 44; Lam 3:47). Psalm 9:15 develops the metaphor; ironically, the hunter fell into the pit designed for his victims.