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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Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
    Learn from their ways and become wise!
Though they have no prince
    or governor or ruler to make them work,
they labor hard all summer,
    gathering food for the winter.
But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
    When will you wake up?
10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
    scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

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

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

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Lazy people are soon poor;
    hard workers get rich.

A wise youth harvests in the summer,
    but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.

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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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26 Lazy people irritate their employers,
    like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.

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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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11 A hard worker has plenty of food,
    but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.

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

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24 Work hard and become a leader;
    be lazy and become a slave.

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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.

27 Lazy people don’t even cook the game they catch,
    but the diligent make use of everything they find.

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

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Lazy people want much but get little,
    but those who work hard will prosper.

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

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11 Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears;
    wealth from hard work grows over time.

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23 All hard work brings a profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty.

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23 Work brings profit,
    but mere talk leads to poverty!

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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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19 A lazy person’s way is blocked with briers,
    but the path of the upright is an open highway.

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One who is slack in his work
    is brother to one who destroys.(A)

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A lazy person is as bad as
    someone who destroys things.

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