father (v. 8) accompanied by a motivating sentence (v. 9). Then follows the message, which concludes with a summarizing statement (v. 19). In a nutshell, the message of this particular discourse is to avoid associations with evil people, who are defined as those who seek gain at others’ expense, even their lives. We are also for the first time introduced to the metaphor of the path. The path is one’s course of life. As we will see, the image will be developed in a way that entails the idea of two