The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!”
- BSB The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”
- NKJV The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
- NASB The lazy one says, “There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!”
- NLT The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there! If I go outside, I might be killed!”
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
The sluggard invents wild excuses, like a lion in the street, to avoid work. It matters because it mocks the absurd evasions of laziness.
Overview
The lazy person concocts far-fetched dangers to justify staying idle (Proverbs 26:13). The verse humorously exposes how laziness rationalizes itself with implausible fears. Wisdom sees through such excuses and calls instead for honest, diligent labor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Prov 26:13–16The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
- Prov 15:19The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.
- Num 13:32–33And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
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 22:13 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.