Amplified Bible
Proverbs 22:13
13The lazy one [manufactures excuses and] says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets [if I go out to work]!”
Proverbs 22:13 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
- New International Version (NIV)The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!”
- English Standard Version (ESV)The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!"
- New King James Version (NKJV)The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
Context of Proverbs 22:13
11He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend. 12The eyes of the Lord keep guard over knowledge and the one who has it, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous. The lazy one [manufactures excuses and] says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets [if I go out to work]!” 14The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit [deep and inescapable]; He who is cursed by the Lord [because of his adulterous sin] will fall into it. 15Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline [correction administered with godly wisdom and lovingkindness] will remove it far from him.
Read all of Proverbs 22Proverbs 22:13 word by word
אָמַ֣ר עָ֭צֵל אֲרִ֣י בַח֑וּץ בְּת֥וֹךְ רְ֝חֹב֗וֹת אֵֽרָצֵֽחַ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 22:13
- Proverbs 15:19The way of the lazy is like a hedge of thorns [it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him], But the way [of life] of the upright is smooth and open like a highway.
- Proverbs 26:13The lazy person [who is self-indulgent and relies on lame excuses] says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square [and if I go outside to work I will be killed]!”
- Numbers 13:32So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we went, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
Commentaries on Proverbs 22:13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 13The slothful man saith, There is a lion without - But why does he say so? Because he is a slothful man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary difficulties and dangers will be no more. He will not go abroad to work in the fields, because he thinks there is a lion in the way, he will not go out into the town for employment, as he fears to be assassinated in the streets! From both these circumstances he seeks total cessation from activity.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 13The point of the satire is the ingenuity with which the slothful man devises the most improbable alarms. He hears that “there is a lion without,” i. e., in the broad open country; he is afraid of being slain in the very streets of the city.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13Verse 13 The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 13Among the many proverbs about laziness (Proverbs 10:4–6, 26; 12:11; 13:4; 14:4; 15:19; 18:9; 19:15, 24; 20:4, 13; 21:25; 26:13), this one is the funniest. Lazy people will invent any wild excuse to avoid working.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1313. Frivolous excuses satisfy the indolent man's conscience.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 22:13
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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