(A)Go to (B)the ant, O (C)sluggard;
    consider her ways, and (D)be wise.
(E)Without having any chief,
    (F)officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread (G)in summer
    and (H)gathers her food in harvest.

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A slack hand (A)causes poverty,
    (B)but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

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26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
    so is the sluggard to those who send him.

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11 (A)Whoever works his land (B)will have plenty of bread,
    (C)but he who follows (D)worthless pursuits lacks sense.

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24 (A)The hand of the diligent will rule,
    while the slothful will be (B)put to forced labor.

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27 (A)Whoever is slothful will not roast his game,
    but the diligent man will get precious wealth.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:27 Or but diligence is precious wealth

(A)The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
    while the soul of the diligent (B)is richly supplied.

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19 The way of (A)a sluggard is like a hedge of (B)thorns,
    but the path of the upright is (C)a level highway.

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Whoever is slack in his work
    is a (A)brother to him who destroys.

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15 (A)Slothfulness casts into (B)a deep sleep,
    and (C)an idle person will suffer hunger.

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24 (A)The sluggard buries his hand in (B)the dish
    and will not even bring it back to his mouth.

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(A)The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
    (B)he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

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13 (A)Love not sleep, lest you (B)come to poverty;
    open your eyes, and you will have (C)plenty of bread.

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25 The desire of (A)the sluggard kills him,
    for his hands refuse to labor.
26 All day long he craves and craves,
    but the righteous (B)gives and does not hold back.

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13 (A)The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
    I shall be killed in the streets!”

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30 (A)I passed by the field of a sluggard,
    by the vineyard of a man (B)lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
    the ground was covered with nettles,
    and its stone (C)wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and (D)considered it;
    I looked and received instruction.
33 (E)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

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13 (A)The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
    There is a lion in the streets!”
14 As a door turns on its hinges,
    so does a sluggard on his bed.
15 (B)The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is (C)wiser in his own eyes
    (D)than seven men who can answer sensibly.

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27 She looks well to the ways of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.

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18 Through sloth the roof sinks in,
    and through indolence the house leaks.

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10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: (A)If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

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