Enter not into the path of the wicked Avoid their practices and company; and go not in the way of evil men Do not proceed further therein. If thou hast unadvisedly entered into it, do not persist in it, but get thee speedily out of it. Avoid it, pass not by it Keep at a great distance from it. Turn from it, &c. Shun all occasions of sin. For they sleep not They cannot compose themselves to sleep with quietness and satisfaction to their own minds; unless they cause some to fall Into their snares, either into sin or mischief. For they eat the bread of wickedness Wickedness is as necessary and as pleasant to them as their bread; or, they live wholly upon what they get by wicked courses. Which gives the reason why they could not sleep without prey. And drink the wine of violence That is, gotten by violence: see on the former clause. But the path of the just is as the shining light The common course of their lives, or actions, is pure and spotless, clear and certain, safe and comfortable as light is; and their presence enlightens, instructs, edifies, and rejoices others. They carry light into every place by their example, and by their instructions. That shineth more and more unto the perfect day Righteous men daily grow more and more in knowledge, and grace, and consolation, until all be perfected and swallowed up in glory. But the way of the wicked is as darkness Full of gross ignorance and error, of uncertainty and confusion, of iniquity, of danger, and of misery: all which come under the name of darkness in the Scriptures, and suit well with the context. They know not at what they stumble Hebrew, במה יכשׁלו, at what they shall, or are about to, stumble. Though they are always in danger, yet they are always secure, and do not discern their danger, nor the cause, or manner, or time of their ruin, till they be surprised with it. Or, as some interpret the clause, “They commit sin without scruple; they deliver themselves up to it without remorse; they fall without grief, and continue in it without repentance.”
Related Commentaries of Proverbs 4:14
Proverbs 4:14-19
14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.