14 (A)Do not enter the path of the wicked,
And do not walk in the way of evil.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
16 (B)For they do not sleep unless they have done evil;
And their sleep is [a]taken away unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness,
And drink the wine of violence.

18 (C)But the path of the just (D)is like the shining [b]sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
19 (E)The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know what makes them stumble.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 4:16 Lit. robbed
  2. Proverbs 4:18 Lit. light

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed.

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Go from the presence of a foolish man,
When you do not perceive in him the lips of (A)knowledge.

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19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly,
Than to divide the [a]spoil with the proud.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 16:19 plunder

19 (A)He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets;
Therefore do not associate with one (B)who flatters with his lips.

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Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.

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24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a (A)furious man do not go,
25 Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.

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Do not eat the bread of (A)a[a] miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” (B)he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:6 Lit. one who has an evil eye

20 (A)Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

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Do Not Envy Evil Men

24 Do not be (A)envious of evil men,
Nor desire to be with them;
For their heart devises violence,
And their lips talk of troublemaking.

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21 My son, (A)fear the Lord and the king;
Do not associate with those given to change;
22 For their calamity will rise suddenly,
And who knows the ruin those two can bring?

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