Go to the ant, you sluggard;(A)
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer(B)
    and gathers its food at harvest.(C)

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?(D)
    When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest(E)
11 and poverty(F) will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

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Lazy hands make for poverty,(A)
    but diligent hands bring wealth.(B)

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He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,
    but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.(A)

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26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke(A) to the eyes,
    so are sluggards to those who send them.(B)

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11 Those who work their land will have abundant food,
    but those who chase fantasies have no sense.(A)

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24 Diligent hands will rule,
    but laziness ends in forced labor.(A)

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27 The lazy do not roast[a] any game,
    but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:27 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,(A)
    but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

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11 Dishonest money dwindles away,(A)
    but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

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Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
    but from the strength of an ox(A) come abundant harvests.

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19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,(A)
    but the path of the upright is a highway.

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26 The appetite of laborers works for them;
    their hunger drives them on.

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