¹⁴ Don’t do as the wicked do,
    and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
¹⁵ Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way.
    Turn away and keep moving.
¹⁶ For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day.
    They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
¹⁷ They eat the food of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence!

¹⁸ The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
    which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.
¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like total darkness.
    They have no idea what they are stumbling over.

²⁰ Walk with the wise and become wise;
    associate with fools and get in trouble.

⁷ Stay away from fools,
    for you won’t find knowledge on their lips.

¹⁹ Better to live humbly with the poor
    than to share plunder with the proud.

¹⁹ A gossip goes around telling secrets,
    so don’t hang around with chatterers.

⁵ Corrupt people walk a thorny, treacherous road;
    whoever values life will avoid it.

²⁴ Don’t befriend angry people
    or associate with hot-tempered people,
²⁵ or you will learn to be like them
    and endanger your soul.

⁶ Don’t eat with people who are stingy;
    don’t desire their delicacies.
⁷ They are always thinking about how much it costs.^[a]
    “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.
⁸ You will throw up what little you’ve eaten,
    and your compliments will be wasted.

²⁰ Do not carouse with drunkards
    or feast with gluttons,
²¹ for they are on their way to poverty,
    and too much sleep clothes them in rags.

24 Don’t envy evil people
    or desire their company.
² For their hearts plot violence,
    and their words always stir up trouble.