Proverbs 4:18–19

Proverbs 4:14–19

Don’t enter into the path of the wicked. Don’t walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, and don’t pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on. For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.

Context note · editorial

After warning against companionship with people devoted to violence, the teacher contrasts a brightening righteous path with stumbling darkness. The distinction concerns the moral direction of a life.