²⁷ Complete your outdoor work, and prepare your field;^(A)
afterward, build your house.

³⁰ I went by the field of a slacker
and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense.
³¹ Thistles had come up everywhere,
weeds covered the ground,^(A)
and the stone wall was ruined.
³² I saw, and took it to heart;
I looked, and received instruction:
³³ a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
³⁴ and your poverty will come like a robber,
your need, like a bandit.^(B)

² It is the glory of God to conceal a matter^(A)
and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

¹³ To those who send him, a trustworthy messenger
is like the coolness of snow on a harvest day;
he refreshes the life of his masters.^(A)

¹³ The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road—
a lion in the public square!”^(A)
14 A door turns on its hinges,
and a slacker, on his bed.^(B)
15 The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he is too weary to bring it to his mouth.^(C)
16 In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser^(D)
than seven men who can answer sensibly.

²³ Know well the condition of your flock,^(A)
and pay attention to your herds,

¹⁹ The one who works his land
will have plenty of food,^(A)
but whoever chases fantasies
will have his fill of poverty.^(B)

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ the ants are not a strong people,
yet they store up their food in the summer;^(A)
26 hyraxes are not a mighty people,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;^(B)
27 locusts have no king,
yet all of them march in ranks;^(C)
28 a lizard^[a] can be caught in your hands,
yet it lives in kings’ palaces.