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

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.

² It is God’s privilege to conceal things
    and the king’s privilege to discover them.

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

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.

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

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

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.