The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.
Parallel translations
- WEB The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
- KJV The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
- BSB But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- NKJV The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
- NLT But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
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 way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not even see what trips them. Sin blinds people to their own ruin.
Overview
Opposite the brightening path of the righteous, the wicked stumble in darkness, unaware of what causes their fall. Sin not only leads to ruin but blinds its victims to the danger. This recalls the New Testament theme of spiritual blindness from which only Christ, the light of the world, can deliver (John 8:12; 12:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 12:35Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.
- Isa 59:9–10Therefore is justice far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
- Job 18:5–6“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Jer 23:12Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
- 1 Sam 2:9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
- Jer 13:16Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.
- Job 18:18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
- Prov 2:13who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
- Job 12:25They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
- John 11:10But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”
- Job 5:14They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
- Matt 7:23Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
- Matt 15:14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- 1 Jn 2:11But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
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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 4:19 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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