Bible Strands
Proverbs 4:15
Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text addresses a reader in a direct instructional moment, immediately following a warning against setting foot on the path of evildoers in the preceding verse.
The words — The Hebrew imperative פְּרָעֵ֥הוּ (pe.ra.'E./hu) commands "avoid it," reinforced by אַל־ ('al-) "may not" and תַּעֲבָר (ta.'a.vor-) "you pass along" to forbid traveling the way.
The thread — This command to reject wicked pathways aligns with Ephesians 5:11, which forbids fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, and 1 Thessalonians 5:22, which requires abstaining from every form of evil.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate physical and moral separation from the wicked path, requiring the reader to actively turn away and continue forward without lingering or engaging with evil conduct.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- Job 22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
- 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.
- Exodus 23:7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.
- Job 11:14 if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,
- Proverbs 5:8 Keep your path far from her; do not go near the door of her house,
- Isaiah 33:15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—
- Proverbs 6:5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.