Proverbs 22:13

13 People who don't want to work say, "There's a lion outside!" Or they say, "I'll be murdered if I go out into the streets!"

Proverbs 22:13 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 22:13

The slothful [man] saith, [there is] a lion without
Or, "in the street". This he says within himself; or to those who call out to him, and put him on doing the business of his proper calling, whether in the field or elsewhere, which, through his slothfulness, he has a disinclination to; and therefore frames excuses, and suggests this and that difficulty or danger in the way, expressed by a "lion without"; and which shows the folly and weakness of his excuses, since lions do not usually walk in cities, towns, and villages, and in the streets of them, but in woods and mountains; I shall be slain in the streets;
by the lion there; or I shall never be able to get over the difficulties, and through the dangers, which attending to business will expose me to. Some apply this to the difficulties that slothful persons imagine in the learning of languages, arts, and sciences; as Jarchi applies it to the learning of the law.

Proverbs 22:13 In-Context

11 Have a pure and loving heart, and speak kindly. Then you will be a friend of the king.

12 The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge. But he does away with the words of those who aren't faithful.

13 People who don't want to work say, "There's a lion outside!" Or they say, "I'll be murdered if I go out into the streets!"

14 The mouth of a woman who commits adultery is like a deep pit. Any man the LORD is angry with will fall into it.

15 A child is going to do foolish things. But correcting him will drive his foolishness far away from him.