19 Don’t be agitated by evildoers,
and don’t envy the wicked.(A)
20 For the evil have no future;(B)
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.(C)

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19 Do not fret because of evil people
or be envious of wicked people,
20 for the evil person has no future,[a]
and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 24:20 tn Heb “there is no end [i.e., future] for the evil.”
  2. Proverbs 24:20 sn The saying warns against envying the wicked; v. 19 provides the instruction, and v. 20 the motivation. The motivation is that there is no future hope for them—nothing to envy, or as C. H. Toy explains, there will be no good outcome for their lives (Proverbs [ICC], 449). They will die suddenly, as the implied comparison with the lamp being snuffed out signifies.