What Does Proverbs 4:14 Mean in the King James?
Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
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
A path is not neutral ground: the moment you enter it, your feet begin to make it your way.
THE MEANING
This verse names a present danger: a route has a moral direction before its destination is visible. The first step joins you to the practices and company that can make that route feel normal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a harmful course cannot shape you until you reach its end.
THE ROOT
אֹרַח
ʾōraḥ
GROWS FROM
ארח
ʾ-r-ḥ
To travel or make a journey; to be on the way.
The word for a path belongs to the same root as the word for a traveler: Hebrew holds route and traveler together. The warning concerns the course you enter, not only the destination ahead; every way becomes real as someone moves along it.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōrēaḥ: Traveler, wayfarer; also guest.
אֹרֵחַ
The route and the person moving along it share a root, joining a path to the one who takes it.
ʾorḥōt: Routes, paths.
אֹרְחוֹת
The plural names the different courses a journey can take.
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread, step, or make a way by walking.
The word for a way grows from treading: a route is ground shaped by steps. The paired warning brings the danger close, the course begins beneath your feet.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: To tread, step.
דָּרַךְ
This verb names the movement from which a way takes its shape.
midrākh: A step or footprint; a place trodden.
מִדְרָךְ
A footprint is a trace left by movement, making the way a record of where feet have gone.
THE PATTERN
The company and course you enter shape where you end up.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.THE THREAD
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.The same Hebrew word, אֹרַח (ʾōraḥ, path or traveled way), appears here. Its contrast shows two courses by their unfolding: one entered among the wicked, another shining brighter as it goes.
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