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The Folly of Idleness

Go to the ant, you sluggard!
    Consider her ways and be wise.
Which, having no guide,
    overseer, or ruler,
provides her bread in the summer,
    and gathers her food in the harvest.

How long will you sleep, O sluggard?
    When will you arise out of your sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to sleep—
11 so will your poverty come upon you like a stalker,
    and your need as an armed man.

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Go to the ant, thou sluggard;
Consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no [a]chief,
Overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her bread in the summer,
And gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou [b]sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to [c]sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as a [d]robber,
And thy want as [e]an armed man.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 6:7 Or, judge
  2. Proverbs 6:9 Hebrew lie down.
  3. Proverbs 6:10 Hebrew lie down.
  4. Proverbs 6:11 Or, rover
  5. Proverbs 6:11 Hebrew a man with a shield.

He becomes poor who deals with a slack hand,
    but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

He who gathers in summer is a wise son,
    but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

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He becometh poor that worketh with a slack hand;
But the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
He that gathereth in summer is [a]a wise son;
But he that sleepeth in harvest is a son [b]that causeth shame.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 10:5 Or, a son that doeth wisely
  2. Proverbs 10:5 Or, that doeth shamefully

26 As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes,
    so is the sluggard to those who send him.

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26 As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,
So is the sluggard to them that send him.

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11 He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread,
    but he who follows vain persons is void of understanding.

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11 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread;
But he that followeth after [a]vain persons is void of understanding.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:11 Or, vain things

24 The hand of the diligent will rule,
    but the slothful will be put to forced labor.

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24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule;
But [a]the slothful shall be put under taskwork.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:24 Hebrew slothfulness.

27 The slothful man does not roast that which he took in hunting,
    but the substance of a diligent man is precious.

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27 [a]The slothful man [b]roasteth not that which he took in hunting;
But the precious substance of men [c]is to the diligent.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 12:27 Hebrew slothfulness.
  2. Proverbs 12:27 Or, catcheth not his prey
  3. Proverbs 12:27 Or, is to be diligent

The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing;
    but the soul of the diligent will be made fat.

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The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

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Where no oxen are, the crib is clean;
    but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

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Where no oxen are, the crib is clean;
But much increase is by the strength of the ox.

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23 In all labor there is profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty.

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23 In all labor there is profit;
But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

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19 The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,
    but the way of the righteous is made plain.

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19 The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns;
But the path of the upright is made a highway.

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26 He who labors, labors for himself,
    for his mouth craves it of him.

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26 The appetite of the laboring man laboreth for him;
For his mouth urgeth him thereto.

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He also who is slothful in his work
    is brother to him who is a great waster.

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He also that is slack in his work
Is brother to him that is a destroyer.

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