Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.
- BSB Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;
- NKJV Do not envy the oppressor, And choose none of his ways;
- NASB Do not envy a violent person, And do not choose any of his ways.
- NLT Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways.
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 the violent man or choose any of his ways. The success of the ruthless is not to be desired or imitated.
Overview
It is tempting to envy those who get ahead through violence and oppression, but the wise reject both the envy and the path. Their apparent gain is fleeting and abhorrent to God (as the next verses make clear). Scripture repeatedly cautions against envying the wicked, whose end is ruin (Ps 37:1; 73:17-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 24:1Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
- Ps 37:1Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
- Gal 5:21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
- Eccl 5:8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
- Prov 23:17Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
- Prov 12:12The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
- Prov 24:19–20Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;
- Ps 37:7–9Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
- Prov 1:15–18My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
- Prov 2:12–15To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
- Ps 73:3For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Prov 22:22–25Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
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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 3:31 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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