Proverbs 19:15
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Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
15 Slothfulness sinketh into deep sleep, And an idle soul must hunger. Regarding תּרדּמה and its root-word רדם, vid., at Pro 10:5. הפּיל, to befall, to make to get, is to be understood after Gen 3:21; the obj. על־האדם, viz., העצל, is naturally to be supplied. In 15b the fut. denotes that which will certainly happen, the inevitable. In both of its members the proverb is perfectly clear; Hitzig, however, corrects 15a, and brings out of it the meaning, "slothfulness gives tasteless herbs to eat." The lxx has two translations of this proverb, here and at Pro 18:8. That it should translate רמיה by ἀνδρόγυνος was necessary, as Lagarde remarks, for the exposition of the "works of a Hebrew Sotades." But the Hebrew literature never sunk to such works, wallowing in the mire of sensuality, and ἀνδρόγυνος is not at all thus enigmatical; the Greek word was also used of an effeminate man, a man devoid of manliness, a weakling, and was, as the lxx shows, more current in the Alexandrine Greek than elsewhere.
Open source ↗See here the evil of a sluggish slothful disposition. 1. It stupefies men, and makes them senseless, and mindless of their own affairs, as they were cast into a deep sleep, dreaming much, but doing nothing. Slothful people doze away their time, bury their talents, live a useless life, and are the unprofitable burdens of the earth; for any service they do when they are awake they might as well be always asleep. Even their souls are idle and lulled asleep, their rational powers chilled and frozen. 2. It impoverishes men and brings them to want. Those that will not labour cannot expect to eat, but must suffer hunger: An idle soul, one that is idle in the affairs of his soul, that takes no care or pains to work out his salvation, shall perish for want of that which is necessary to the life and happiness of the soul.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.
For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth.
Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.