One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.
Parallel translations
- KJV He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
- BSB Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.
- NKJV He who is slothful in his work Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.
- NASB He also who is lax in his work Is a brother to him who destroys.
- NLT A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.
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
Laziness in one's work is as ruinous as deliberate destruction. The slacker is kin to the wrecker.
Overview
This striking proverb equates the one who is slack in his work with a 'master of destruction,' for negligence wastes and ruins just as surely as active harm. It dignifies diligent labor and warns that idleness is not harmless but destructive. Scripture commends faithful work as service to God (Col. 3:23), and the believer labors heartily, redeemed by Christ to good works (Eph. 2:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 10:4He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
- Heb 6:12that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
- Prov 24:30–34I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
- Prov 23:20–21Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:
- Rom 12:11not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
- Prov 28:24Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, “It’s not wrong.” He is a partner with a destroyer.
- Matt 25:26“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.
- Luke 15:13–14Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
- Luke 16:1–2He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
- Job 30:29I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:9 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.