Proverbs 30:25

25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

Proverbs 30:25 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
English Standard Version (ESV)
25 the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;
New Living Translation (NLT)
25 Ants—they aren’t strong, but they store up food all summer.
The Message Bible (MSG)
25 ants - frail as they are, get plenty of food in for the winter;
American Standard Version (ASV)
25 The ants are a people not strong, Yet they provide their food in the summer;
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
25 Ants are not a strong species, yet they store their food in summer.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
25 the ants are not a strong people, yet they store up their food in the summer;
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
25 The first are ants. They aren't very strong. But they store up their food in the summer.

Proverbs 30:25 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 30:25

The ants [are] a people not strong
Far from it; what is weaker than an ant? a multitude of them may be destroyed at once, with the crush of a foot. Pliny calls it "minimum animal", the least animal; and the Arabians use it as a proverb, to call a weak man one weaker than an ant: and there is one sort of ants called "dsar", so small that one hundred of them will not weigh more than a barley corn F7: they are called a people, because they associate together in great numbers; though small in bulk, and weak as to power and strength; and which is a figure elsewhere used in the sacred Scriptures; see ( Joel 1:6 ) ; and by profane writers, as Homer and Virgil, who speak of bees as a people and nation F8; and of nations of flies, and of flying birds, geese, cranes, and swans F9; yet their prepare their meat in the summer;
build granaries with great art and wisdom, carry in grains of corn with great labour and industry, in the summer season, when only to be got, and lay them up against winter. Phocylides F11 the poet says much the same things of them; he calls them a tribe or nation, small but laborious, and says, they gather and carry in their food in summer for the winter, which is a proof of their wisdom. Cicero F12 says, the ant has not only sense, but mind, reason, and memory. Aelianus F13 ascribes unspeakable wisdom to it; and Pliny F14 discourse and conversation; (See Gill on Proverbs 6:6), (See Gill on Proverbs 6:7); (See Gill on Proverbs 6:8). It is a pattern of industry and diligence both as to temporal and spiritual things, ( Ecclesiastes 9:10 ) ( Matthew 6:19 Matthew 6:20 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 4. c. 22. col. 598.
F8 (eynea melissawn) Iliad. 2. v. 87. "Et populos et proelia dicam", Georgic. l. 4. v. 4, 5.
F9 Iliad. 2. v. 459, 469. & 15. v. 690, 691.
F11 Poem. Admon. v. 158, 159.
F12 De Natura Deorum, l. 3.
F13 De Animal. l. 16. c. 15.
F14 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 30.

Proverbs 30:25 In-Context

23 a contemptible woman who gets married, and a servant who displaces her mistress.
24 “Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:
25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
26 hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;
27 locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks;

Cross References 1

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