This past Sunday I was privileged to listen to the second part of our series on Proverbs. This time we focused on the topic of work and, of course, the sluggard featured heavily in the sermon. It is a sermon that is well worth a listen, and I commend it to you. What better time than for me to share with you a collection of proverbs related to the sluggard.

I would love for some of my readers who have blogs to take one of these proverbs and use it as a springboard for a post. In a sense, the book of Proverbs is a book of sound bites. To me these sound bites just cry out to be blogged. My favourite blog posts always are those which take a sound bite from somewhere and react to it in some way — either ask it a question, challenge it, applaud it, explain it, expand it, apply it, or whatever. Play with these words a bit and may God use them to bless others!

Please pray for me as I prepare to preach the next sermon in this series on Sunday.


Proverbs 6:6
Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Proverbs 6:9
How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

Proverbs 10:26
Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

Proverbs 13:4
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Proverbs 15:19
The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

Proverbs 19:24
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.

Proverbs 20:4
The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

Proverbs 21:25
The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

Proverbs 22:13
The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

Proverbs 24:30
I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense . . .

Proverbs 26:13
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”

Proverbs 26:14
As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.

Proverbs 26:15
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

Proverbs 26:16
The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.