6 Go to the ant, you sluggard.
Consider her ways, and be wise; 7 which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, 8 provides her bread in the summer,
and gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you sleep, sluggard?
When will you arise out of your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 so your poverty will come as a robber,
and your scarcity as an armed man.
12 A worthless person, a man of iniquity,
is he who walks with a perverse mouth; 13 who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
who motions with his fingers; 14 in whose heart is perverseness,
who devises evil continually,
who always sows discord. 15 Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.
He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy. 16 There are six things which Yahweh hates;
yes, seven which are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood; 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are swift in running to mischief, 19 a false witness who utters lies,
and he who sows discord among brothers.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 6:6-19
Commentary on Proverbs 6:6-11
(Read Proverbs 6:6-11)
Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others, or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothful men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus life runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, gradually draws near, like a traveller; and when it arrives, is like an armed man, too strong to be resisted. All this may be applied to the concerns of our souls. How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness! Shall we not seek to awaken such? Shall we not give diligence to secure our own salvation?
Commentary on Proverbs 6:12-19
(Read Proverbs 6:12-19)
If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does every thing artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.