Proverbs 6:7

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
guide	קָצִ֗ין ka.Tzin	H7101	a magistrate (as deciding) or other leader · noun, common masculine singular construct
overseer	שֹׁטֵ֥ר sho.Ter	H7860	properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
ruler	וּמֹשֵֽׁל u.mo.Shel	H4910	to rule · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute

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

Job 38:39-39:12 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
Proverbs 30:27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
Job 39:26-30 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
Job 41:4-34 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 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, I. By way of instruction, Pro 6:6-8. He sends him to school, for sluggards must be schooled. He is to take him to school himself, for, if the scholar will take no pains, the master must take the more; the sluggard is not willing to come to school to him (dreaming scholars will never love wakeful teachers) and therefore he has found him out another…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 6:6

The improvident sluggards usually want sureties. Hence, such are advised to industry by the ant's example.

John Gill on Proverbs 6:7

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler. None to guide and direct her what to do; nor any to overlook her, to see that she does aright, or to oblige her to work, and keep her to it; nor any to call her to an account, and correct her for doing amiss; and nevertheless diligent and industrious, doing everything of herself, by the instinct of nature, readily and willingly: and yet how slothful are men; who, besides the dictates of nature, reason, and conscience, have parents, masters, ministers, and magistrates, to guide, direct, exhort, instruct, and enforce! so Aristotle (k) says of the ant, that it is without any ruler or governor. (k) Hist. de Animal. l. 1. c. 1.

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 6:6-8

As Elihu (Job 35:11) says that God has set the beasts as our teachers, so he sends the sluggard to the school of the ant (Ameise), so named (in Germ.) from its industry (Emsigkeit): 6 Go to the ant, sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise! 7 She that hath no judge, Director, and ruler: 8 She prepareth in summer her food, Has gathered in harvest her store. The Dech written mostly under the לך separates the inseparable. The thought, Go to the ant, sluggard! permits no other distinction than in the vocative; but the Dech of לך אל־נמלה is changed into Munach (Note: Cod. 1294 accentuates לך אל־נמלה; and that, according to Ben-Asher's rule, is correct.) on account of the nature of the Athnach-wor…

The Church Fathers

Which, having no guide, etc. If such a small animal, lacking a leader and devoid of reason, foresees things for itself by nature as its guide for the future, much more so should you, created in the image of God, called to see His glory, aided by the teaching of doctors, having the very Creator as your guide, in the present time gather the fruits of good works, by which you may live eternally. For indeed, this life is compared to harvest and summer because now, amidst the fervors of temptations, is the time to gather the rewards of future good deeds. But the day of judgment is likened to the cold of winter, because then, assuredly, no opportunity is left for working for life, but everyone is compelled to bring forth from the storehouse of past actions what he has reserved. Therefore, the Lord commands, saying: "But pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath" (Matthew 24). For in winter, the opportunity, and on the Sabbath, the permission by law is lacking to gather the fruits of life, and to escape perpetual poverty.
— 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

Ant · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Diligence · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Idleness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Industry · Illustrated — Illustrated
Slothfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Summer · The time for labor and harvest — The time for labor and harvest
Young Men · 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 6:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 6:6-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 6:6

John Gill on Proverbs 6:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 6:6-8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 6:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 6:6-11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 6:6

John Gill on Proverbs 6:7

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 6:6-8

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 6:6-11

Rashi on Proverbs 6:7