Proverbs 4:15

Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:14-27 The way of evil men may seem pleasant, and the nearest way to compass some end; but it is an evil way, and will end ill; if thou love thy God and thy soul, avoid it. It is not said, Keep at a due distance, but at a great distance; never think you can get far enough from it. The way of the righteous is light; Christ is their Way, and he is the Light. The saints will not be perfect till they reach heaven, but there they shall shine as the sun in his strength. The way of sin is as darkness. The way of the wicked is dark, therefore dangerous; they fall into sin, but know not how to avoid it. They fall into trouble, but never seek to know wherefore God contends with them, nor what will be in the end of it. This is the way we are bid to shun. Attentive hearing the word of God, is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart, and a good means of carrying it on. There is in the word of God a proper remedy for all diseases of the soul. Keep thy heart with all diligence. We must set a strict guard upon our souls; keep our hearts from doing hurt, and getting hurt. A good reason is given; because out of it are the issues of life. Above all, we should seek from the Lord Jesus that living water, the sanctifying Spirit, issuing forth unto everlasting life. Thus we shall be enabled to put away a froward mouth and perverse lips; our eyes will be turned from beholding vanity, looking straight forward, and walking by the rule of God's word, treading in the steps of our Lord and Master. Lord, forgive the past, and enable us to follow thee more closely for the time to come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

She is thy life - Another parallel between personified Wisdom in this book and the Incarnate Wisdom in John 1:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. (Compare Ps 1:1). Avoid all temptations to the beginning of evil.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Avoid it, pass not by it; keep at a great distance from it. Compare Job 22:23 Proverbs 5:8.

Turn from it; shun all occasions of sin.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Avoid it,.... As dangerous and pernicious, as abominable and detestable; or, "flee from it", as the Vulgate Latin version: Jarchi and Gersom interpret it, "make it void"; cause it to cease, destroy it, do all you can to hinder the wicked from accomplishing their designs;

pass not by it; do not come near it; keep at a distance from it, that you may not be drawn into it; abstain from all appearance of evil, and everything that may lead to it;

turn from it, and pass away; the Targum adds, "from them", from wicked men. This heap of words is used to show the danger of bad company; to dissuade from the least approach to it; and to express the vehement desire of the wise man to preserve his son, and all well inclined persons, from it.

Geneva Study Bible

Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Avoid it; p'raehu, the kal imperative of para, properly, "to let go," hence "to reject, or abhor." (On the verb, see Proverbs 1:25, where it is rendered, "set at naught.") The same verb also occurs in Proverbs 8:33; Proverbs 13:18; Proverbs 15:32. It; i.e. the way. The suffix of the verb in the original is feminine, "avoid her;" derek, "the way," being common. Turn from it (s'teh mealayv). The original is a pregnant expression equivalent to "turn aside from it, so that you do not come to stand upon it." The word mealayv, equivalent to the Latin desuper ea, has much the same force as the French de dessus and the Italian di sopra (Delitzsch). The verb satah is, as in the Authorized Version, "to turn, or go aside." Pass away; avor, kal imperative of avar, "to pass over," equivalent to Latin transire, here means "to pass on, or along," "to go beyond," like the German Ger weiter gehn. The counsel of the father is not only "turn aside from," but "put the greatest possible distance between you and it." The injunction, so absolutely stated, to have nothing to do with sin, is required, if not indeed prompted, by the knowledge of the fact that youth, confident in its own power of resistance, frequently indulges in the fatal mistake of imagining that it can dally with sin with impunity. The only course compatible with safety is to entirely avoid it. Proverbs 4:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

On פּרעהוּ, avoid it (the way), (opp. אחז, Job 17:9; תּמך, Psalm 17:5), see under Proverbs 1:25. שׂטה, elsewhere (as the Arab. shatt, to be without measure, insolent) used in malam partem, has here its fundamental meaning, to go aside. מעליו (expressed in French by de dessus, in Ital. by di sopra) denotes: so that thou comest not to stand on it. עבר means in both cases transire, but the second instance, "to go beyond (farther)" (cf. 2 Samuel 15:22, and under Habakkuk 1:11), coincides with "to escape, evadere."