Proverbs 24:1 · World English Bible
Proverbs 24:1 Meaning Don’t Be Envious of Evil Men
Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;
What does Proverbs 24:1 mean?
Envy is the strange wish to have what seems to prosper through attack, and a mind that eyes the ways of harm has secretly begun to believe cruelty is strength. To covet the apparent gains of separation is to forget that nothing gotten by fear can bring the peace only love supplies, and the longing to be counted among the harmful is really the longing to feel powerful in a world that measures power by who can wound.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 24:1 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
Envy is the strange wish to have what seems to prosper through attack, and a mind that eyes the ways of harm has secretly begun to believe cruelty is strength. To covet the apparent gains of separation is to forget that nothing gotten by fear can bring the peace only love supplies, and the longing to be counted among the harmful is really the longing to feel powerful in a world that measures power by who can wound.
The correction is to see there is nothing there to want. What looks like success in the ego's way is emptiness dressed as fullness, and a mind that no longer envies it is freed to seek the only good that was ever real.
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Live Proverbs 24:1 today
- When a post makes your chest tighten with envy, stay there a second and ask what that person's life actually looks like at 2am. The feeling usually loosens on its own.
- In a group chat where someone is being praised for being ruthless, do not pile on. You do not have to argue, just stay out of the admiration.
- When a colleague gets ahead by cutting someone down, and you feel the pull to play it the same way, name it quietly to yourself. There is nothing there you actually want.
What am I secretly admiring that I would never want to become?
The same truth in other traditions
Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius
He reminded himself that the people he was tempted to envy were spending their days on things he would not want to spend his life on. Look closely at what their success actually costs them.
Buddhism
Craving is the hook. Wanting what someone else has gotten by harm means swallowing their suffering along with it.
Tao Te Ching 44
The one who knows what is enough never loses. Grasping for more always ends in less than you started with.
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