10 My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent.
11 If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait to shed blood;
Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
12 Let us swallow them alive like [a]Sheol,
And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
13 We shall find all kinds of precious [b]possessions,
We shall fill our houses with [c]spoil;
14 Cast in your lot among us,
Let us all have one purse”—
15 My son, do not walk in the way with them,
Keep your foot from their path;
16 For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely, in [d]vain the net is spread
In the sight of any [e]bird;
18 But they lie in wait for their own blood,
They lurk secretly for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain;
It takes away the life of its owners.
Two things the young man is solemnly warned against here: evil companionships and “covetousness, which is idolatry.”
The line of demarcation between the children of God and the children of wrath is sharply drawn in the inspired Word.
“Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” is the command of the Lord. If sinners entice, appealing to the lust of the human heart, turning away from them. Their entreaties are only defiling. Nothing pleases them better than to have the young man cast in his lot with them, all having one purse; but it is an ungodly fellowship, in which the believer can have no part.
The only safe course is to part company at once. “Walk not thou in the way with them.” Clean-cut separation from the world in all its forms is the path of blessing.
Many a young Christian makes shipwreck because of dallying with the world on the plea, perchance, of improving it. Such a course is folly, and a great mistake. “Refrain your foot from their path: for their feet run to evil ;” and if you venture first to “walk” in their way, you will soon be “running” with them.
Nor can you plead ignorance in the day of your spiritual and moral breakdown; for God’s Word has cast a light on your way, disclosing the net spread now in plain sight, and warning you against the treacherous wiles of the devil.
In contrast the entreaty of the wicked, the next section gives the voice of Wisdom pleading that she be heard and heeded.