Do not be envious of evil men,Nor desire to be with them;
For their heart devises violence,And their lips talk of troublemaking.
Proverbs 24:1–2 · NKJVPart of Do Not Envy Evil Men, Proverbs 24:1–2.
Quick answer
Do not want what they have, and do not want to be in the room with them. The saying forbids the envy before it forbids the company, because the envy is what produces the company.
Read the whole unit
Read the whole unit
The saying opens the last stretch of the Thirty and it will be answered eighteen verses later at 24:19–20, which repeats the same two verbs almost exactly. That bracket is the shape of the argument: the section begins and ends by telling a young man not to look sideways at people who are doing well by doing harm.
What makes this version worth reading slowly is the second command. Envy is a feeling, and the saying does not stop at feelings; it goes to desire to be with them, proximity, the thing envy actually asks for. Then verse 2 answers with evidence rather than with a rule, and it picks the two places a person can be observed. The heart, where the plans are made, and the lips, where they get discussed. Nothing here says the evil men are unsuccessful. It says that if you want their outcome you are asking for their interior, and that the interior is the whole of what they are.
What this verse contributes
the two-stage command, envy first and proximity second, since wanting what they have is how a person ends up standing near them.
The other half
Here is why the company is not worth having: listen to what they actually spend their time on. Their interior runs on violence and their conversation runs on trouble.
Related: Proverbs 24:19–20 · Proverbs 23:17 · Psalm 37:1 · Proverbs 1:10–19
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.