²⁶ Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,^(A)
so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand.

¹⁹ A slacker’s way is like a thorny hedge,
but the path of the upright is a highway.^(A)

²⁴ The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth!^(A)

⁴ The slacker does not plow during planting season;^[a]
at harvest time he looks,^[b] and there is nothing.^(A)

²⁵ A slacker’s craving will kill him
because his hands refuse to work.^(A)
26 He is filled with craving^[a] all day long,
but the righteous give and don’t hold back.^(B)

¹³ The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside!
I’ll be killed in the public square!” ^(A)

³⁰ I went by the field of a slacker
and by the vineyard of one lacking sense.
³¹ Thistles had come up everywhere,
weeds covered the ground,^(A)
and the stone wall was ruined.
³² I saw, and took it to heart;
I looked, and received instruction:
³³ a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to rest,
³⁴ and your poverty will come like a robber,
and your need, like a bandit.^(B)

¹³ The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road—
a lion in the public square!” ^(A)
14 A door turns on its hinges,
and a slacker, on his bed.^(B)
15 The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!^(C)
16 In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser^(D)
than seven who can answer sensibly.