He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.
Parallel translations
- WEB One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.
- 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 becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
- Heb 6:12That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
- Prov 24:30–34I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
- Prov 23:20–21Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
- Rom 12:11Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
- Prov 28:24Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.
- Matt 25:26His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
- Luke 15:13–14And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
- Luke 16:1–2And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
- Job 30:29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 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.