Amsal 6:4-10

6:4 Permit no sleep to your eyes ¹ 

or slumber to your eyelids.

6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, ² 

and like a bird from the trap ³  of the fowler.

6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; ⁴ 

observe its ways and be wise!

6:7 It has no commander,

overseer, or ⁵  ruler,

6:8 yet it prepares its food in the summer;

it gathers at the harvest what it will eat. ⁶ 

6:9 How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?

When will you rise from your sleep? ⁷ 

6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to relax, ⁸ 

Amsal 24:30-34

24:30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,

by the vineyard of one who lacks wisdom. ⁹ 

24:31 I saw ¹⁰  that thorns had grown up all over it,

the ground ¹¹  was covered with weeds,

and its stone wall was broken down.

24:32 When I saw this, I gave careful consideration to it; ¹² 

I received instruction from what I saw: ¹³ 

24:33 “A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to relax,

24:34 and your poverty will come like a bandit,

and your need like an armed robber.” ¹⁴ 

[6:4]  ¹ tn Heb “do not give sleep to your eyes.” The point is to go to the neighbor and seek release from the agreement immediately (cf. NLT “Don’t rest until you do”).

[6:5]  ² tn Heb “from the hand.” Most translations supply “of the hunter.” The word “hand” can signify power, control; so the meaning is that of a gazelle freeing itself from a snare or a trap that a hunter set.

[6:5]  ³ tc Heb “hand” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV). Some mss and versions have it as “trap,” which may very well represent an interpretation too.

[6:6]  ⁴ sn The sluggard (עָצֵל, ’atsel) is the lazy or sluggish person (cf. NCV “lazy person”; NRSV, NLT “lazybones”).

[6:7]  ⁵ tn The conjunction vav (ו) here has the classification of alternative, “or” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §433).

[6:8]  ⁶ tc The LXX adds a lengthy section at the end of the verse on the lesson from the bee: “Or, go to the bee and learn how diligent she is and how seriously she does her work – her products kings and private persons use for health – she is desired and respected by all – though feeble in body, by honoring wisdom she obtains distinction.” The Greek translator thought the other insect should be mentioned (see C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 124).

[6:8]  tn Heb “its food.”

[6:9]  ⁷ sn The use of the two rhetorical questions is designed to rebuke the lazy person in a forceful manner. The sluggard is spending too much time sleeping.

[6:10]  ⁸ sn The writer might in this verse be imitating the words of the sluggard who just wants to take “a little nap.” The use is ironic, for by indulging in this little rest the lazy one comes to ruin.

[24:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “lacks heart”; KJV “understanding”; NAB, NASB, NLT “sense.”

[24:31]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, traditionally “and, lo” [KJV, ASV]) is a deictic particle that calls attention to what comes next. “And look” is too abrupt here; “I saw” calls attention to the field that was noticed.

[24:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “its face” (so KJV, ASV).

[24:32]  ¹² sn Heb “I set my heart.” The “heart” represents the mind and the will combined; to “set” the mind and will means to give careful consideration to what was observed.

[24:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “I looked, I received instruction.” There are four verbs in the two parts of this verse: “I saw…I set…I saw…I received.” It is clear that the first two verbs in each half verse are the foundation for the next two. At the beginning of the verse the form is the preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive; it can be subordinated as a temporal clause to the next verb, probably to be identified as a preterite with the vav – “when I saw, I put.” The next two verbs are both perfect tenses; their construction would parallel the first half of the verse, even though there are no conjunctions here – “[when] I saw, I received.”

[24:32]  sn The teacher makes several observations of the state of the sluggard that reveal that his continued laziness will result in poverty. The reminiscence used here may be a literary device to draw a fictional but characteristically true picture of the lazy person.

[24:34]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man of shield.” This could refer to an armed warrior (so NRSV) but in this context, in collocation with the other word for “robber” in the previous line, it must refer to an armed criminal.