Proverbs 22:13

13 A lazy man says, "There's a lion outside! I'll be killed if I go out in the street!"

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 He who loves the pure-hearted and is gracious in speech will have the king as his friend.

12 The eyes of ADONAI protect [the man with] knowledge, but he overturns the plans of a traitor.

13 A lazy man says, "There's a lion outside! I'll be killed if I go out in the street!"

14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; the man with whom ADONAI is angry falls into it.

15 Doing wrong is firmly tied to the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away from him.