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Go to the ant, you sluggard.
    Consider her ways, and be wise;
which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
    provides her bread in the summer,
    and gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you sleep, sluggard?
    When will you arise out of your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 so your poverty will come as a robber,
    and your scarcity as an armed man.

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(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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He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand,
    but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
He who gathers in summer is a wise son,
    but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.

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

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11 He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread,
    but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.

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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 The hands of the diligent ones shall rule,
    but laziness ends in slave labor.

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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 The slothful man doesn’t roast his game,
    but the possessions of diligent men are prized.

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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

The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing,
    but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

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

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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 hard work there is profit,
    but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

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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 the sluggard is like a thorn patch,
    but the path of the upright is a highway.

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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 The appetite of the laboring man labors for him;
    for his mouth urges him on.

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

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One who is slack in his work
    is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

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

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