Proverbs 24:30
in Proverbs 24I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I went by the field of the sluggard, And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
KJV
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
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This verse in Proverbs 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseI 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.
This site's exposition
I went past the field of a slacker
on Proverbs 24:30-32
The chapter closes on an eyewitness report of a slacker's field, where "Thorns had grown up everywhere." The line "I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction" states the method. The observer learns wisdom by watching a real ruin more than by being told a rule.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In Proverbs: "I passed by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man without sense; and behold! it was all overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall broken down." This happens when a man has good …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I went by the field of the slothful,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
NO DOUBT Solomon was sometimes glad to lay aside the robes of State, escape from the forms of court and go through the country unknown. On one occasion, when he was doing so, he looked over the broken wall of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his country. This estate consisted of a piece of plowed land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it was owned by a sluggard who neglected it, for the weeds had grown right plentifully and covered all the face of the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3381: “The Broken Fence” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
THIS lazy man did no hurt to his fellow men—he was not a thief, nor a ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody else's business. He did not trouble himself about other men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his own—it required too much exertion. He was not grossly vicious. He had not energy enough to care for that. He was one who liked to take things easily. He always let well enough alone and, for the that matter, he let ill alone, too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden plainly proved!
NO DOUBT Solomon was sometimes glad to lay aside the robes of State, escape from the forms of court and go through the country unknown. On one occasion, when he was doing so, he looked over the broken wall of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his country. This estate consisted of a piece of plowed land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it was owned by a sluggard who neglected it, for the weeds had grown right plentifully and covered all the face of the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction. Men generally learn wisdom if they have wisdom. The artist's eye sees the beauty of the landscape because he has beauty in his mind. "To him that has shall be given" and he shall have abundance, for he shall reap a harvest even from a field that is covered with thorns and nettles. There is a great difference between one man and another in the use of the mind's eye. I have a book entitled, "The Harvest of a Quiet Eye," and a good book it is—the harvest of a quiet eye can be gathered from a sluggard's land as well as from a well-managed farm. When we were boys we were taught a little poem, called "Eyes and no Eyes." There was much truth in it for some people have eyes and see not, which is much the same as having no eyes—while others have quick eyes for spying out instruction. Some look only at the surface, while others see not only the outside shell but the living kernel of truth which is hidden in all outward things. We may find instruction everywhere. To a spiritual mind nettles have their use and weeds have their doctrine.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3381: “The Broken Fence” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THIS lazy man did no hurt to his fellow men—he was not a thief, nor a ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody else's business. He did not trouble himself about other men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his own—it required too much exertion. He was not grossly vicious. He had not energy enough to care for that. He was one who liked to take things easily. He always let well enough alone and, for the that matter, he let ill alone, too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden plainly proved! What was the use of disturbing himself? It would be all the same a hundred years hence and so he took things just as they came. He was not a bad man, so some said of him, and yet, perhaps it will be found at last that there is no worse man in the world than the man who is not good, for in some respects he is not good enough to be bad! He has not enough force of character about him to serve either God or Baal. He simply serves himself, worshipping his own ease and adoring his own comfort. Yet he always meant to be right. Dear me, he was not going to sleep much longer, he would only have forty winks more and then he would be at his work—and show you what he could do! One of these days he meant to be thoroughly in earnest and make up for lost time. The time never actually came for him to begin, but it was always coming. He always meant to repent, but he went on in his sin. He meant to believe, but he died an unbeliever. He meant to be a Christian, but he lived without Christ. He halted between two opinions because he could not trouble himself to make up his mind! And so he perished of delay. This picture of the slothful man and his garden and field overgrown with nettles and weeds represents many a man who has professed to be a Christian, but who has become slothful in the things of God. Spiritual life has withered in him. He has backslidden.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The chapter ends with an apologue, which may be taken as a parable of something yet deeper. The field and the vineyard are more than the man’s earthly possessions. His neglect brings barrenness or desolation to the garden of the soul. The “thorns” are evil habits that choke the good seed, and the “nettles” are those that are actually hurtful and offensive to others. The “wall” is the defense which laws and rules give to the inward life, and which the sluggard learns to disregard, and the “poverty” is the loss of the true riches of the soul, tranquility, and peace, and righteousness.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שְׂדֵ֣ה | sedeh | [the] field of | H7704 → | 334 times |
| אִישׁ־ | ʾish- | a person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| עָצֵ֣ל | ʾatzel | lazy | H6102 → | 14 times |
| עָבַ֑רְתִּי | ʾavarti | I passed by | H5674 → | 556 times |
| וְעַל־ | veal- | and at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֶּ֝֗רֶם | kerem | [the] vineyard of | H3754 → | |
| אָדָ֥ם | ʾadam | a person | H120 → | 551 times |
| חֲסַר־ | chasar- | lacking of | H2638 → | 17 times |
| לֵֽב׃ | lev | heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
עַל־at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
שְׂדֵ֣ה[the] field of
sedehH7704 →334 times
אִישׁ־a person
ʾish-H376 →1663 times
עָצֵ֣לlazy
ʾatzelH6102 →14 times
עָבַ֑רְתִּיI passed by
ʾavartiH5674 →556 times
וְעַל־and at
veal-H5921 →5755 times
כֶּ֝֗רֶם[the] vineyard of
keremH3754 →
אָדָ֥םa person
ʾadamH120 →551 times
חֲסַר־lacking of
chasar-H2638 →17 times
לֵֽב׃heart
levH3820 →595 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 12:11The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:19
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.
- Proverbs 14:23
There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12
and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
- Proverbs 28:19
Through
Job 4:8As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
it leads to
- Galatians 6:7–8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Proverbs 22:8
He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hosea 8:7
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Hosea 10:12–13
Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
- Job 15:35
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Galatians 6:7–8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2027: “The Sluggard's Farm” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3381: “The Broken Fence” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).