Proverbs 6:4-14

4 Don't procrastinate - there's no time to lose.

5 Run like a deer from the hunter, fly like a bird from the trapper! A Lesson from the Ant

6 You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.

7 Nobody has to tell it what to do.

8 All summer it stores up food; at harvest it stockpiles provisions.

9 So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed?

10 A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy - do you know what comes next?

11 Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent houseguest! Always Cooking Up Something Nasty

12 Riffraff and rascals talk out of both sides of their mouths.

13 They wink at each other, they shuffle their feet, they cross their fingers behind their backs.

14 Their perverse minds are always cooking up something nasty, always stirring up trouble.

Proverbs 6:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 6

In this chapter the wise man dissuades from rash suretyship; exposes the sin of idleness; describes a wicked man; makes mention of seven things hateful to God; exhorts to attend to parental instructions and precepts, and cautions against adultery. Suretyship is described, Pr 6:1; and represented as a snare and a net, in which men are taken, Pr 6:2; and advice is given what to do in such a case, for safety in it, and deliverance from it, Pr 6:3-5; The sin of slothfulness is exposed, by observing the industry of the ant, Pr 6:6-8; by expostulating with the sluggard for his continuance in sloth, and by mimicking him, Pr 6:9,10; and by the poverty it brings upon him, Pr 6:11. Then a naughty wicked man is described, by his mouth, eyes, feet, fingers, and heart, whose ruin is sudden and inevitable, Pr 6:11-15. The seven things hateful to God are particularly named, Pr 6:16-19. And next the exhortation in some preceding chapters is reassumed, to attend to the instructions of parents; which will be found ornamental, pleasant, and useful, Pr 6:20-23. Especially to preserve from the lewd woman cautioned against, Pr 6:24,25; whose company is dissuaded from; on account of the extreme poverty and distress she brings persons to, and even danger of life, Pr 6:26; from the unavoidable ruin such come into, Pr 6:27-29; from the sin of uncleanness being greater than that of theft, Pr 6:30,31; from the folly the adulterer betrays; from the destruction of his soul, and the disgrace he brings on himself, Pr 6:32,33; and from the rage and irreconcilable offence of the husband of the adulteress, Pr 6:34,35.