²⁷ First do your outside work,
    preparing your land for yourself.
        After that, build your house.

³⁰ I went by the field belonging to a lazy man,
    by a vineyard belonging to a senseless person.
³¹ There it was, overgrown with thistles,
    the ground covered with thorns,
        its stone wall collapsed.
³² As I observed, I thought about it;
    I watched, and learned a lesson:
³³ “A little sleep! A little slumber!
    A little folding of my hands to rest!”
³⁴ Then your poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    your need like an armed bandit.

² It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
    and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

¹³ Like cold snow during harvest time
    is a faithful messenger to those who send him;
        he refreshes his masters.

²³ Keep well informed of the condition of your flocks
    and pay attention to your herds,

¹⁹ Whoever works his farmland will have abundant food,
    but whoever chases fantasies will become very poor.

²⁴ Four things on earth are small,
    but they are very, very wise:
²⁵ Ants aren’t a strong species,^[a]
    yet they prepare their food in the summer.
²⁶ The rock badgers aren’t a strong species^[b] either,
    yet they build their dens in the rocks.
²⁷ Locusts have no king,
    but they all swarm in ranks.
²⁸ Spiders can be caught by the hand,
    yet they’re found in kings’ palaces.