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Proverbs 4:19

The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.

  • KJV King James Version

    The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.

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Cross-references (14)

Passages linked to Proverbs 4:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • John 12:35 Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.
  • Isaiah 59:9-10 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
  • Job 18:5-6 “Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine. The light will be dark in his tent. His lamp above him will be put out.
  • Jeremiah 23:12 Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
  • 1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength.
  • Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it deep darkness.
  • Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
  • Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
  • Job 18:18 He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
  • Proverbs 2:13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,
  • Matthew 7:23 Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
  • John 11:10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”
  • Matthew 15:14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
  • 1 John 2:11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (12 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked [is] as…

Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked [is] as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Ver. 19. Is as darkness.] That little light they had by nature they imprison, {κατεχοντωυ, Rom 1:18} and are justly deprived of. And as for those sparkles of the light of joy and comfort that hypocrites have, it is but as a flash of lightning which is followed with a thunder clap, or like the light smitten out of the flint; (1.) they cannot warm themselves by it, nor see to direct their ways; (2.) it will quickly go out; (3.) and after that they must "lie down in sorrow." {Isa 50:11}

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They know not at what they stumble.] They stumble sometimes at Christ himself, and at his word, "being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." {1Pe 2:8} A shrewd sign of reprobation. The Vulgate renders it, Ne sciunt ubi corruant. They know not how soon they may drop into hell, which even gapes for them. {Isa 14:9}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As darkness; full of gross ignorance and error, of…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The way of the wicked is as darkness,.... They…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Darkness - Full of ignorance and error, of uncertainty…
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain The contrast is more clearly repeated.†1 Each has his…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fall. They are unconcerned about sin, and neither avoid…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. As darkness — Thick or dense darkness, the…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. as darkness] Comp., for the contrast with the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) The way of the wicked is as darkness.—By…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The way of the wicked is as darkness. In…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The way of the wicked is as darkness: they…
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Pro 4:10 - Pro 4:19.

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