Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
soul	נַפְשׁ֣וֹ naf.Sho	H5315	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
sluggard	עָצֵ֑ל 'a.Tzel	H6102	indolent · adjective, masculine singular absolute
desireth	מִתְאַוָּ֣ה mit.'a.Vah	H183	to wish for · verb, hithpael active participle, feminine singular absolute
soul	וְנֶ֖פֶשׁ ve.Ne.fesh	H5315	properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
diligent	חָרֻצִ֣ים cha.ru.Tzim	H2742	properly · adjective, masculine plural absolute
fat	תְּדֻשָּֽׁן te.du.Shan	H1878	to be fat · verb, pual imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Proverbs 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
2 Peter 1:5-11 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
Proverbs 2:2-9 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Proverbs 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Proverbs 28:25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.
John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: f…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:4

Here is, 1. The misery and shame of the slothful. See how foolish and absurd they are; they desire the gains which the diligent get, but they hate the pains which the diligent take; they covet every thing that is to be coveted, but will do nothing that is to be done; and therefore it follows, They have nothing; for he that will not labour let him hunger, and let him not eat, Th2 3:10. The desire of the slothful, which should be his excitement, is his torment, which should make him busy, makes him always uneasy, and is really a greater toil to him than labour would be. 2. The happiness and honour of the diligent: Their soul shall be made fat; they shall have abundance, and shall have the comf…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:4

(Compare Pro 12:11, Pro 12:27).

John Gill on Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing,.... He desires knowledge, but does not care to be at any pains to get it, and so has it not; he desires riches, but chooses not to make use of the means, to be diligent and industrious, and so he is without them; he desires to wear good clothes and rich raiment, but is unwilling to labour for them, and therefore is clothed with rags; he desires food, and plenty of it, but refuses to work for it; and he that will not work should not eat, and therefore he has it not, but starves and famishes: and, in spiritual things, the sluggard desires heaven and happiness, but does not care to do the duties of religion; he would die the death of the righ…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:4

The three proverbs (Pro 13:1-3) which refer to hearing and speaking are now following by a fourth which, like Pro 13:2 and Pro 13:3, speaks of the נפשׁ. The soul of the sluggard desires, yet has not; But the soul of the industrious is richly satisfied. The view that the o in נפשׁו עצל is the cholem compaginis, Bttcher, 835, meets with the right answer that this would be the only example of a vocal casus in the whole of gnomic poetry; but when on his own part (Neue Aehrenlese, 1305) he regards נפשׁו as the accus. of the nearer definition (= בּנפשׁו), he proceeds inadvertently on the view that the first word of the proverb is מתאוּה, while we read מתאוּה, and נפשׁו is thus the nom. of the subj…

The Church Fathers

"And the sluggard desires and does not desire," etc. Rightly, the lazy person is marked by the term, who wants to reign with God but does not want to work for God. The rewards delight when they are promised; the struggles deter when they are commanded. Concerning this, James says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1). And the son of Sirach says, "Woe to the sinner who walks on two paths!" But those who carry out the Lord's commands do so because their soul is refreshed by the sweetness of heavenly things; according to him who beseeches the Lord, saying, "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and richness" (Psalm 62). Or certainly, the soul of the workers will be enriched, because those who toil with pious labor for the Lord will be rewarded with a heavenly and unfading recompense after their labors.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Diligence · Prosperity — Prosperity
Idleness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Idleness And Sloth · Lead to: Disappointment — Lead to: Disappointment
Industry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Slothfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 13:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:4

John Gill on Proverbs 13:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 13:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 13:4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 13:4

John Gill on Proverbs 13:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 13:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 13:3

Rashi on Proverbs 13:4