Bible Strands
Proverbs 26:27
He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A wise teacher addresses a student within a collection of sayings on the fool and concealed malice (vv. 26–28). The verse sits between the exposure of hidden hatred and the ruin caused by flattery.
The words — תָּשׁוּב (ta'shuv), "it will return," carries the same root as repentance and reversal; the stone does not merely bounce back but returns to its origin. The digger (כֹּרֶשׁ, ko'resh) is a participle, marking a habitual act rather than a one-time event.
The thread — The pit-of-own-making motif recurs in Psalms 7:15, Psalms 9:15, and Proverbs 28:10, where the wicked fall into what they set for others.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to audit their own schemes: the trap you built for someone else is the one you are standing in.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 28:10 He who leads the upright along the path of evil will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit what is good.
- Psalms 9:15 The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- Psalms 7:15 He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- Psalms 10:2 In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
- Ecclesiastes 10:8 He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaches a wall may be bitten by a snake.
- Psalms 57:6 They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah
- Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.