This verse closes the second movement of the father's lecture on wisdom and the neighbor, Proverbs 3:21–35.
Quick answer
Do not envy the man who wins by force, and do not imitate him. The command takes aim at the moment violence starts to look like a strategy because it appears to be working.
Read the whole unit
The father's lecture on wisdom and the neighbor moves in three sweeps. First, security (vv. 21–26): keep sound wisdom in view and the results are bodily and immediate, safe steps, unafraid nights, sweet sleep, because "the LORD will be your confidence." Second, the neighbor (vv. 27–31): five consecutive "do nots" that bring wisdom down from the cosmos of the preceding poem to the person next door. Do not withhold good that is owed, do not delay it until tomorrow, do not plot against the neighbor who trusts you, do not pick fights, and do not envy the violent man who seems to be winning. Third, the reasons (vv. 32–35): four verses that ground neighbor-ethics in the LORD's own stances, His abomination and His intimacy, His curse and His blessing, His scorn and His grace, and the divergent inheritances of the wise and the foolish. Some scholars divide the passage at v. 27, treating the neighbor commands as their own unit; the flow of thought holds together as one lecture, since the "do nots" rest directly on the security just described (a person confident in the LORD can afford to be generous and unenvious) and the closing verses supply the reasons for both halves. This entry set treats 3:21–35 as one lecture and notes the boundary question honestly here, once.
What this verse contributes
This verse reaches under the previous four commands to the root temptation: the oppressor who does these things openly and prospers is their most persuasive advocate. Envy is the door, and "choose none of his ways" shows how quickly admiration becomes apprenticeship. The sages repeat the warning throughout (23:17, 24:1, 24:19) and the psalmists confess to feeling it (Psalm 73). The verses that follow answer it: the oppressor's trajectory is measured by the LORD's stance toward him, not his winnings.
Related: Psalm 73:2–20 · Proverbs 24:19–20
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.