Proverbs 24:30–31

¹¹He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

⁶¶ Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

⁷Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

⁸Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

⁹How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

¹⁰Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

¹¹So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

¹²¶ A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

¹³He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

¹⁴Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.

¹⁵Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

¹⁶¶ These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

¹⁷A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

¹⁹A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

⁹All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

¹⁰And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

⁸Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

¹SO I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

²Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

³Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

⁴¶ Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁵The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

⁶Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

⁷¶ Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

⁸There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

¹⁷I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

²⁷Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

¹³In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.

³²But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

¹⁵All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

⁴²The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.

⁵And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:

¹⁸¶ By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.

¹⁷And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

¹⁸Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

³¶ For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

²²He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

¹³The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

⁸But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

⁴⁰Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

⁷And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

²³The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.