Do not envy wicked men or desire their company;
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them:
- KJV Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
- NKJV Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;
- NASB Do not be envious of evil people, Nor desire to be with them;
- NLT Don’t envy evil people or desire their company.
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
Do not envy wicked people or wish to be in their company.
Overview
Wisdom again warns against envying sinners (cf. 23:17) and desiring their fellowship. The temptation is to covet the apparent advantages of evil men and be drawn into their circle. Scripture instead calls believers to walk with the wise and keep company that builds godliness, not ruin (Prov. 13:20; Ps. 1:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 37:7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- Prov 23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
- Prov 3:31Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;
- Jas 4:5–6Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?
- Prov 13:20He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
- Gal 5:19–21The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Ps 37:1Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
- Ps 73:3For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Gen 19:1–11Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,
- Prov 24:19Do not fret over evildoers, and do not be envious of the wicked.
- Prov 1:11–15If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Ps 26:9Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,
- Gen 13:10–13And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 24:1 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
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