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27 Prepare your work in the street and get it ready for yourself in the field;
    afterward, then[a] you shall build your house.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 24:27 Hebrew “and”

27 Do your planning and prepare your fields
    before building your house.

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30 I passed by the field of a lazy person,
    and over the vineyard of a person lacking sense;[a]
31 and behold, it was overgrown—all of it was covered with thorns, its surface with nettles,
    and its stone wall[b] was broken down.
32 Then I myself saw and my heart[c] considered;
    I looked, and I took hold of instruction:
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands for rest,
34 and your poverty will come running,
    and your lack like an armed warrior.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 24:30 Literally “heart”
  2. Proverbs 24:31 Literally “a wall of his/its stones”
  3. Proverbs 24:32 Or “mind”

30 I walked by the field of a lazy person,
    the vineyard of one with no common sense.
31 I saw that it was overgrown with nettles.
    It was covered with weeds,
    and its walls were broken down.
32 Then, as I looked and thought about it,
    I learned this lesson:
33 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
34 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
    scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

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The glory of God[a] conceals things,
    but the glory of kings searches out things.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 25:2 Or “gods”

It is God’s privilege to conceal things
    and the king’s privilege to discover them.

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13 Like the cold of snow on a day[a] of harvest
    is a faithful messenger to those who send him,
    and the soul[b] of his master is refreshed.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 25:13 Or “at a season”
  2. Proverbs 25:13 Or “life,” or “inner self”
  3. Proverbs 25:13 Or “returned”

13 Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer.
    They revive the spirit of their employer.

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13 A lazy person says “A lion is in the road!
    A lion among the streets!”
14 The door turns on its hinge,
    and a lazy person on his bed.
15 A lazy person buries his hands in the dish;
    he is too tired to return it to his mouth.
16 A lazy person is wiser in his eyes
    than seven who answer discreetly.

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13 The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion on the road!
    Yes, I’m sure there’s a lion out there!”

14 As a door swings back and forth on its hinges,
    so the lazy person turns over in bed.

15 Lazy people take food in their hand
    but don’t even lift it to their mouth.

16 Lazy people consider themselves smarter
    than seven wise counselors.

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23 You will surely know the condition[a] of your flock;
    your heart[b] attends to the herds.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 27:23 Literally “faces”
  2. Proverbs 27:23 Or “mind”

23 Know the state of your flocks,
    and put your heart into caring for your herds,

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19 He who tills his ground will have plenty bread,
    but he who follows fantasies will have plenty of poverty.

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19 A hard worker has plenty of food,
    but a person who chases fantasies ends up in poverty.

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24 There are four small things on the earth,
    and they are exceedingly wise:[a]
25 The ants are a people who are not strong,
    yet they prepare their food in the summer;
26 the badgers are a people who are not mighty,
    yet they set their house on the rock;
27 there is no king for the locust,
    yet it marches in rank;
28 a lizard you can seize with hands,
    yet it is in palaces of kings.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 30:24 Literally “wise ones from wise ones

24 There are four things on earth that are small but unusually wise:
25 Ants—they aren’t strong,
    but they store up food all summer.
26 Hyraxes[a]—they aren’t powerful,
    but they make their homes among the rocks.
27 Locusts—they have no king,
    but they march in formation.
28 Lizards—they are easy to catch,
    but they are found even in kings’ palaces.

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Footnotes

  1. 30:26 Or Coneys, or Rock badgers.