Proverbs 24:1-2

1, 2. Be not thou envious תקנא , ( tekanne,) jealous, angry, or excited.

The radical idea is heat. See Proverbs 24:19; also Proverbs 28:5; Proverbs 23:17; Proverbs 23:3; Proverbs 23:6; Psalms 37:1; Psalms 73:3. On Proverbs 24:2 comp. Psalms 10:7. The good things of this life health, wealth, station, honours, etc., are desirable. Wicked men often enjoy them, and good men often lack them. This has always been a source of perplexity and temptation to the righteous. Why should the ungodly prosper while the godly suffer? Thoughts like these arise, as they did in the mind of the psalmist. (Psalms 73:3.) Hence the frequent admonition, not to envy the prosperity of the wicked, as though they were happier in their sins and riches than the righteous are in their piety and poverty. The Judge of all the earth will do right. It is ours to believe and wait.