Proverbs 24:1

Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
envious	תְּ֭קַנֵּא Te.ka.ne'	H7065	to be (causatively · verb, piel jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
evil	רָעָ֑ה ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
men	בְּאַנְשֵׁ֣י be.'an.Shei	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
desire	תִּ֝תְאָ֗יו tit.'av	H183	to wish for · verb, hithpael jussive, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 37:7 Rest 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 wic…
Proverbs 3:31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Proverbs 23:17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
James 4:5-6 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Psalms 37:1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Psalms 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 24:1

Be not thou envious against evil men,.... Or, "men of evil" (b). Such who are addicted to evil, and given up to it, whose principles and practices are bad; such as are before described in the preceding chapter; gluttons and drunkards, men given to women and wine: envy not their present prosperity, or seeming pleasure they have in the gratification of their sensual appetites; since woe and sorrow, wounds and strife, now attend them, and poverty and want will follow them; as well as everlasting ruin and destruction will be their portion hereafter; See Gill on Proverbs 23:17; and compare with this Proverbs 24:21; neither desire to be with them; to be in their company; to have any conversation…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:1-2

After this divergence (in Pro 23:29-35) from the usual form of the proverb, there is now a return to the tetrastich: 1 Envy not evil men, And desire not to have intercourse with them. 2 For their heart thinketh of violence, And their lips speak mischief. The warning, not to envy the godless, is also found at Pro 3:31; Pro 23:17; Pro 24:19, but is differently constructed in each of these passages. Regarding תּתאו with Pathach, vid., at Pro 23:3. אנשׁי רעה (cf. רע, Pro 28:5) are the wicked, i.e., such as cleave to evil, and to whom evil clings. The warning is grounded in this, that whoever have intercourse with such men, make themselves partners in greater sins and evil: for their heart broode…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 24:1-2

Saying 19: See 1:8-19.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

Do not emulate evil men, etc. Do not desire to imitate those whom you see entangled in the vices I have mentioned, but rather strive to devote yourself to wisdom.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Company · EVIL — EVIL
Envy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).