Trap

A device used as a snare in hunting or warfare to capture animals or people; a tactic, plot or scheme designed to deceive someone into trouble or sin.

Traps used in hunting and warfare

Job 40:24; Isaiah 42:22; Ezekiel 19:4; Amos 3:5

Kinds of traps

Words

Judges 12:5–6; Proverbs 6:2, Proverbs 12:13; Isaiah 29:21; Jeremiah 9:8; Mark 12:13, Mark 12:15

Actions

Genesis 27:6–12, Genesis 37:23–24; 1 Samuel 28:9; 2 Samuel 21:5; 2 Kings 21:24; Lamentations 1:19; Habakkuk 2:9–11; Luke 22:48

Temptation

1 Timothy 6:9 See also Exodus 23:33, Exodus 34:12; Deuteronomy 7:16, Deuteronomy 7:25; Joshua 23:12–13; Judges 2:3, Judges 8:27, Judges 16:15–16; Proverbs 11:6, Proverbs 20:25, Proverbs 22:24–25; Ecclesiastes 7:26; Ezekiel 13:18; Hosea 5:1

Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

Evil times

Ecclesiastes 9:12

Fear of other people

Proverbs 29:25

Wisdom is alert to traps

1 Chronicles 12:16–17; Proverbs 13:14

Those who trap others have evil hearts

Isaiah 32:7 See also Psalm 36:3–4, Psalm 64:6; Proverbs 6:14, Proverbs 12:20, Proverbs 16:27–30

The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

Traps prepared by sinners

Against innocent people

Psalm 38:12 See also Genesis 4:8; 2 Chronicles 24:21; Nehemiah 6:1–4; Esther 2:22, Esther 9:25; Job 30:11–12; Psalm 10:2, Psalm 31:13, Psalm 35:4, Psalm 119:110, Psalm 140:5, Psalm 142:3; Jeremiah 5:26, Jeremiah 9:8, Jeremiah 18:22; Lamentations 3:60–61, Lamentations 4:20; Daniel 6:4–7; Acts 23:19–21

Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

Against God

Psalm 2:1–2 See also Acts 4:25; Psalm 21:11, Psalm 83:5; Hosea 7:15; Nahum 1:11

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One:

Against Jesus Christ

Matthew 22:15 See also Matthew 22:18 parallel Mark 12:15; Matthew 26:21, Matthew 26:25; Mark 3:6; Luke 20:26; John 8:6, John 18:3–4

Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.

Against the truth

Hosea 9:8 See also Acts 14:5, Acts 20:3; Ephesians 4:14

The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God!

The wicked caught in their own traps

Proverbs 28:10 See also Esther 7:10; Job 18:7–10; Psalm 9:16; Proverbs 1:18, Proverbs 5:22, Proverbs 12:13, Proverbs 18:7, Proverbs 29:6; Jeremiah 8:9; Daniel 6:24

He who leads the upright along the path of evil will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.

The devil sets traps

1 Timothy 3:7 See also Acts 13:10; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:26

Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.

God sets traps for the wicked

Jeremiah 50:24 See also Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 28:13; Jeremiah 8:9, Jeremiah 48:43–44; Ezekiel 12:13, Ezekiel 17:20; Obadiah 1:7; Luke 21:34; Romans 11:9; Psalm 69:22

I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.

God frees his people from traps

Psalm 91:3 See also 2 Samuel 22:5–7; Nehemiah 4:7–9; Job 5:13; Psalm 31:4, Psalm 124:6–8, Psalm 141:9; Proverbs 3:26

Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.

God forbids the trapping of the innocent

Zechariah 8:17

The gospel does not trap people by deception

1 Thessalonians 2:3 See also 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Peter 1:16

For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.