Proverbs 24:1-2
The apparent success of the wicked must never become the object of a believer's desire.
1 Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;
2 for their hearts plot violence and their lips talk about mischief.
The apparent success of the wicked must never become the object of a believer's desire.
To warn against desiring the apparent success or companionship of wicked people.
Proverbs 24:1-2 follows the extended warning in Proverbs 23:29-35 against wine’s destructive power, where desire for what looks attractive leads to wounds, confusion, and bondage. Proverbs 24 opens by warning against another attractive danger: envying the wicked. This closely parallels Proverbs 23:17-18, which commanded the son not to let his heart envy sinners but to remain in the fear of the Lord because there is future hope. Proverbs 24:1-2 intensifies the concern by adding the danger of desiring their company. The sequence is important: envy can become proximity, proximity can become imitation, and imitation can become participation in violence and trouble.
In ancient Israel, the wicked could appear enviable because they often possessed power, wealth, confidence, influence, or freedom from restraint. Wisdom instruction warned the young not to be impressed by outward advantage when the heart and lips revealed violence and trouble. Companionship mattered deeply in household, village, gate, and court settings. To desire the company of violent or scheming people was to enter a social world that could train the learner in their ways and implicate him in their deeds.
Wisdom Builds the House: Justice, Courage, Diligence, Enemies, and the Future of the Righteous
Wisdom builds life through understanding, courage, justice, restraint, hope, truthful speech, and diligent stewardship, while wickedness, envy, cowardice, partiality, revenge, and laziness lead to collapse.