What Does Proverbs 24:19 Mean in the King James?
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse reveals a subtle transfer: another person’s apparent success can recruit your zeal into envy.
THE MEANING
When you see people doing evil and appearing to prosper, their conduct can reach inward as agitation and envy. The verse names those reactions as part of what the scene does in you now. Their visible success gives no reason to desire their way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a wicked person’s apparent success makes their way desirable.
THE ROOT
תְּקַנֵּא
teqannēʾ
GROWS FROM
קנא
To be zealous or jealous; to feel ardor toward what one regards as its object.
“envious” in this verse is teqannēʾ. The root carries both jealousy and zeal, so envy is more than a passing comparison: the wicked person’s apparent success can seize the reader’s ardor. The verse exposes how the heart’s energy can be drawn toward the very conduct it sees as evil.
ALSO GROWS
qinʾāh: Jealousy, zeal
קִנְאָה
This noun shares the root’s range of jealousy and ardor, revealing envy as a forceful inward response.
qannāʾ: Zealous, jealous
קַנָּא
This adjective can describe zeal as well as jealousy; here the reader’s ardor is drawn toward the wicked person’s apparent success.
THE PATTERN
The sight of evil loses its hold when it does not recruit the observer’s heart into agitation or envy.
A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.THE THREAD
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.The Hebrew word translated “fret” here shares the root חרה with Proverbs 24:19, where it evokes becoming hot or inflamed. Psalm 37:8 makes the link plain by placing that same word beside anger and wrath, then connecting it to the possibility of doing evil.
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