Slothfulness

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningProverbs 6:6–11Proverbs 10:4Proverbs 10:5Proverbs 10:26Proverbs 12:24Proverbs 12:27Proverbs 13:4Proverbs 15:19Proverbs 18:9Proverbs 19:15Proverbs 19:24Proverbs 20:4Proverbs 21:25Proverbs 22:13Proverbs 23:21Proverbs 24:30–34Proverbs 26:13–16Ecclesiastes 10:18Isaiah 56:10Matthew 25:26
• See Idleness
• See Industry

The passages, in Bible order (24)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Proverbs 6:6–11

   Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 6:6–112 voices

   Why should we dwell upon the amount of evil there is in idleness, when the apostle clearly prescribes that he who does not work should not eat. As daily sustenance is necessary for everyone, so labor in proportion to one's strength is also essential.… The Lord couples sloth with wickedness, saying, "Wicked and slothful servant." Wise Solomon, also, praises the laborer not only in the words already quoted, but also, in rebuking the sluggard, associating him by contrast with the tiniest of insects: "Go to the ant, O sluggard."

   “Go to the ant, thou sluggard - נמלה nemalah, the ant, is a remarkable creature for foresight, industry, and economy. At the proper seasons they collect their food - not in the summer to lay up for the winter; for they sleep during the winter, and eat not; and therefore such hoards would be to them useless; but when the food necessary for them is most plentiful, then they collect it for their consumption in the proper seasons.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 6:6–11→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Proverbs 10:4

   Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 10:41 voice

   “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand,.... That is either remiss in giving to the necessities of others, according to his abilities, and as cases require; or that is negligent and slothful in his business. Or, "that worketh with a deceitful hand"; or, "with a hand of deceit" (u), as it may be rendered; who pretends to work, but does not; makes a show as if he did, but acts deceitfully; or who uses many tricking and deceitful ways and methods to live, as usually slothful persons do.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 10:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Proverbs 10:5

   He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 10:52 voices

   “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son,.... Which is the time of gathering the fruits of the earth, and laying them up against winter, as the ant is said to do, Pro 6:8; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame; to himself, and to his parents and relations.

   “The son is called upon to enter upon the labors of others, and reap where they have sown. To sleep when the plenteous harvest lies ready for the sickle is the most extreme laziness.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 10:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Proverbs 10:26

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

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 10:261 voice

   “As vinegar to the teeth - The acid softening and dissolving the alkali of the bone, so as to impair their texture, and render them incapable of masticating; and as smoke affects the eyes, irritating their tender vessels, so as to give pain and prevent distinct vision; so the sluggard, the lounging, thriftless messenger, who never returns in time with the desired answer.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 10:26→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Proverbs 12:24

   The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 12:241 voice

   “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule - And why? because by his own industry he is independent; and every such person is respected wherever found.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 12:24→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Proverbs 12:27

   A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 12:272 voices

   “The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting,.... Because he takes none. The slothful man takes no pains to get anything for a livelihood, by hunting or otherwise; and though he loves to live well, and eat roast meat, yet what he roasts is not what he has got himself, but what another has laboured for. It is observed (o) that fowlers burn the wings of birds taken by them, that they may not fly away; to which the allusion may be.

   “The word rendered “roasteth” occurs nowhere else; but the interpretation of the King James Version is widely adopted. Others render the first clause thus: “The slothful man will not secure (keep in his net) what he takes in hunting,” i. e., will let whatever he gains slip from his hands through want of effort and attention.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 12:27→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Proverbs 13:4

   The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Proverbs 15:19

   The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 15:192 voices

   In this number are those whom Wisdom calls the "slothful ones," who bestrew their "way" with "thorns"; who think it a moral loss to be anxious about keeping the commandments; who erase from their own minds the Apostolic teaching, and instead of eating the bread of their own honest earning fix on that of others, and make their idleness itself into an art of living. From this number, too, come the Dreamers, who put more faith in the illusions of their dreams than in the Gospel teaching, and style their own phantasies "revelations."

   “The slothful goes on his journey, and for him the path is thick set with thorns, briars, fences, through which he cannot force his way. For the “righteous” (better, upright), the same path is as the broad raised causeway of the king’s highway. Compare Isa 40:3.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 15:19→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Proverbs 18:9

   Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Proverbs 19:15

    Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 19:151 voice

    “Into a deep sleep - תרדמה tardemah, the same into which Adam was thrown, before Eve was taken from his side. Sloth renders a man utterly unconscious of all his interests. Though he has frequently felt hunger, yet he is regardless that his continual slothfulness must necessarily plunge him into more sufferings.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 19:15→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Proverbs 19:24

    The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth.

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Proverbs 20:4

    The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 20:42 voices

    For the most part the slothful, while he neglects to do things that are necessary, sets before him some that are difficult, but is inconsiderately afraid of others; and so, as though finding something that he may reasonably fear, he satisfies himself that he has good reason for remaining torpid. To him it is rightly said through Solomon, "The sluggard would not plough by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in summer, and it shall not be given unto him."

    “The sluggard will not plough - For other parts of this character, see the preceding chapter, Proverbs 19 (note). It is seldom that there is a season of very cold weather in Palestine; very cold days sometimes occur, with wind, rain, and sleet. They begin their ploughing in the latter end of September, and sow their early wheat by the middle of October. And this is often the case in England itself. The meaning of the proverb is: the slothful man, under the pretense of unfavorable weather, neglects cultivating his land till the proper time is elapsed.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 20:4→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Proverbs 21:25

    The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work.

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Proverbs 22:13

    The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 22:131 voice

    “The point of the satire is the ingenuity with which the slothful man devises the most improbable alarms. He hears that “there is a lion without,” i. e., in the broad open country; he is afraid of being slain in the very streets of the city.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 22:13→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Proverbs 23:21

    For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 23:211 voice

    “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,.... They consuming their substance upon their bellies, in eating and drinking; see Pro 21:17; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags; excessive eating and drinking brings drowsiness on men, unfits them for business, and makes them idle and slothful; and spending all on their bellies, they have nothing for their backs, and are clothed in rags; see Pro 24:33.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 23:21→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Proverbs 24:30–34

    I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 24:30–341 voice

    “I went by the field of the slothful - This is a most instructive parable; is exemplified every day in a variety of forms; and is powerfully descriptive of the state of many a blackslider and trifler in religion. Calmet has an excellent note on this passage. I shall give the substance of it. Solomon often recommends diligence and economy to his disciples. In those primitive times when agriculture was honorable, no man was respected who neglected to cultivate his grounds, who sunk into poverty, contracted debt, or engaged in ruinous securities.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 24:30–34→

    Verse page →Original language →