He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
What does Proverbs 13:20 mean?
Multitudes are brought to ruin by bad company. And all that make themselves wicked will be destroyed.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside Proverbs 13:19-20 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Proverbs 13:20
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,.... Who is a companion of them that fear the Lord; converses frequently with them in private about spiritual and experimental things, and walks with them in public in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord; he by those means grows wiser and wiser, gains a large stock of spiritual knowledge and experience; for this holds good both in natural and spiritual wisdom, a man of any capacity at all will improve by keeping wise company; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed; the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "shall become like them"; be a fool as they are, and grow still more and more foolish.
Key words
- walketh
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He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,.
- wise
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He that walketh with wise men shall be wise,.
Context in Proverbs 13
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Proverbs 13 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Solomonic proverb collections. Proverbs offers compact instruction on speech, work, wealth, friendship, sex, discipline, justice, and wisdom as a way of life before God. Read this chapter with the wider themes of wisdom, fear of the Lord, and speech in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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