The Wicked Caught In The Net Of His Own Sins

(Proverbs 5:22): "His own iniquities shall trap the wicked man" — just as a person spreads a net and catches fish from the sea, so his iniquities spread a net for the sinner to trap him; therefore it is said, "His own iniquities shall trap the wicked man." "And he shall be held fast by the cords of his sin" (Proverbs 5:22) — just as with this woman, her transgressions are recalled only at the hour of her birth-pangs, so a person's iniquities are recalled only at the hour when he comes to the pangs of Sheol; therefore it is said, "And he shall be held fast by the cords of his sin." [The word for "cords" plays on the "pangs" of childbirth and of death.]