The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
Parallel translations
- KJV The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
- BSB The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
- NKJV The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor.
- NASB The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy hand will be put to forced labor.
- NLT Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor. Hard work leads to authority, while sloth leads to servitude.
Overview
This proverb contrasts the advancement of the diligent with the subjugation of the lazy. Faithful effort tends toward responsibility and influence, while slothfulness leads to bondage. It reflects God's design that diligent stewardship be honored, encouraging believers to work heartily as unto the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 12:27The slothful man doesn’t roast his game, but the possessions of diligent men are prized.
- Prov 10:4He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
- Prov 21:25–26The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.
- Prov 13:4The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.
- Prov 19:15Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.
- Prov 22:29Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won’t serve obscure men.
- Prov 22:13The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!”
- Gen 49:15He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.
- 1 Kgs 11:28The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labor of the house of Joseph.
- Prov 17:2A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers.
- 1 Kgs 9:21their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day.
- Prov 26:13–16The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion roams the streets!”
- Prov 24:30–34I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
- 1 Kgs 12:20When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was no one who followed David’s house, except for the tribe of Judah only.
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 12:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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