Proverbs 13:20

20 Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.

Proverbs 13:20 Meaning and Commentary

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. The Septuagint version is, "shall be known"; known by the company he keeps to be a fool also: or rather, "shall be broken" F20; ruined and destroyed, "evil communications corrupt good manners", ( 1 Corinthians 15:33 ) , and so bring to ruin and destruction.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (ewry) "conteretur", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus; "conquassabitur", Cocceius; "fragetur", Michaelis; "infringetur", Schultens, so Ben Melech.

Proverbs 13:20 In-Context

18 A person who refuses correction will end up poor and disgraced, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.
19 It is so good when wishes come true, but fools hate to stop doing evil.
20 Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.
21 Trouble always comes to sinners, but good people enjoy success.
22 Good people leave their wealth to their grandchildren, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for good people.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.