Work with Diligence

⁶ Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

⁸ she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. ⁹ How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? ¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

³ The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. ⁴ A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. ⁵ He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

²⁶ Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. ²⁷ The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

¹ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

¹¹ Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

¹⁴ From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him.

²⁴ The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

⁴ The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

¹¹ Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

²³ In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

³² Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

⁹ Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

¹⁵ Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

⁴ The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

¹³ Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

⁵ The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

¹⁷ Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

²⁵ The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

¹³ The sluggard says, There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!

²⁷ Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

³⁰ I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, ³¹ and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. ³² Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. ³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ³⁴ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

¹⁶ If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

²⁷ It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory. ²⁸ A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

²³ Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds, ²⁴ for riches do not last forever; and does a crown endure to all generations?

¹⁹ Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

¹ Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. ² Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. ³ If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. ⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.