Proverbs 24:19-20

Context

24:19 Do not fret because of evil people

or be envious of wicked people,

24:20 for the evil person has no future,¹

and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.²

[24:20] ¹tn Heb “there is no end [i.e., future] for the evil.”

[24:20] ²sn The saying warns against envying the wicked; v. 19 provides the instruction, and v. 20 the motivation. The motivation is that there is no future hope for them – nothing to envy, or as C. H. Toy explains, there will be no good outcome for their lives (Proverbs [ICC], 449). They will die suddenly, as the implied comparison with the lamp being snuffed out signifies.