Ecclesiastes 9:12

as the fishes that are taken in an evil net The words paint vividly the suddenness of calamities which defeat all men's purposes and plans. The imagery was a natural one in any country, and meets us in Hosea 7; Ezekiel 12:13; Ezekiel 32:3; Proverbs 7:23; but it is interesting to note a parallel in the poetry of Greece. So Æschylus:

ἥτʼ ἐπὶ Τροίας πύργοις ἔβαλες

στεγανὸν δίκτυον, ὡς μήτε μέγαν

μήτʼ οὗν νεαρῶν τινʼ ὑπερτελέσαι

μέγα δουλείας

γάγγαμον, ἄτης παναλώτου.

"Who upon the towers of Troïa

Castedst snare of closest meshes,

So that none, full-grown or youthful,

Could o'erleap the net of bondage,

Woe of universal capture."

Agam. 347 350.

We may compare the parallels, for the illustration drawn from the "snare of the fowler," of Psalms 91:3; Psalms 124:7; Proverbs 1:17; Proverbs 6:5.