(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.
(I)How long will you lie there, (J)O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
10 (K)A little sleep, a little slumber,
    (L)a little (M)folding of the hands to rest,
11 (N)and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

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A slack hand (A)causes poverty,
    (B)but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
He who (C)gathers in summer is a prudent son,
    but he who sleeps in harvest is (D)a son who brings shame.

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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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Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
    but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

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23 In all toil there is profit,
    but mere talk (A)tends only to poverty.

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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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26 A worker's appetite works for him;
    his (A)mouth urges him on.

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

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