My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
- BSB my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.
- NKJV My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;
- NASB My son, do not walk on the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,
- NLT My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The father urges his son not to walk in their way at all. It matters because wisdom calls for decisive separation from the path of sin.
Overview
After quoting the enticement, the father commands total avoidance: do not even set foot on their road. Sin is resisted not by flirting with it but by keeping distance from its very path. This reflects the consistent biblical pattern of fleeing temptation rather than negotiating with it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 119:101I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
- Ps 1:1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
- Prov 4:14–15Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
- Prov 4:27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
- Ps 26:4–5I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
- 2 Cor 6:17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
- Prov 9:6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
- Prov 13:20He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
- Prov 5:8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
- Jer 14:10Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.