6 Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise:
So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.
The hater of work will not do his ploughing because of the winter; so at the time of grain-cutting he will be requesting food and will get nothing.
Like acid drink to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so is the hater of work to those who send him.
But his lord in answer said to him, You are a bad and unready servant; if you had knowledge that I get in grain where I did not put seed, and make profits for which I have done no work,
He who does not give his mind to his work is brother to him who makes destruction.
Be not slow in your work, but be quick in spirit, as the Lord's servants;
The ants are a people not strong, but they put by a store of food in the summer;
But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you; Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it.
Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.
The hater of work says, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. A door is turned on its pillar, and the hater of work on his bed. The hater of work puts his hand deep into the basin: lifting it again to his mouth is a weariness to him. The hater of work seems to himself wiser than seven men who are able to give an answer with good sense.
I went by the field of the hater of work, and by the vine-garden of the man without sense; And it was all full of thorns, and covered with waste plants, and its stone wall was broken down. Then looking at it, I gave thought: I saw, and I got teaching from it. A little sleep, a little rest, a little folding of the hands in sleep: So loss will come on you like an outlaw, and your need like an armed man.
The hater of work says, There is a lion outside: I will be put to death in the streets.
The desire of the hater of work is death to him, for his hands will do no work.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 6
Commentary on Proverbs 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter we have,
We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interests, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this.
Pro 6:1-5
It is the excellency of the word of God that it teaches us not only divine wisdom for another world, but human prudence for this world, that we may order our affairs with discretion; and this is one good rule, To avoid suretiship, because by it poverty and ruin are often brought into families, which take away that comfort in relations which he had recommended in the foregoing chapter.
But how are we to understand this? We are not to think it is unlawful in any case to become surety, or bail, for another; it may be a piece of justice or charity; he that has friends may see cause in this instance to show himself friendly, and it may be no piece of imprudence. Paul became bound for Onesimus, Philem. 19. We may help a young man into business that we know to be honest and diligent, and gain him credit by passing our word for him, and so do him a great kindness without any detriment to ourselves. But,
Pro 6:6-11
Solomon, in these verses, addresses himself to the sluggard who loves his ease, lives in idleness, minds no business, sticks to nothing, brings nothing to pass, and in a particular manner is careless in the business of religion. Slothfulness is as sure a way to poverty, though not so short a way, as rash suretiship. He speaks here to the sluggard,
Pro 6:12-19
Solomon here gives us,
Pro 6:20-35
Here is,