Proverbs 26:14
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Cross References
Hebrews 6:12
12that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
Proverbs 6:9-10
9How long will you sleep, sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? 10A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—
Proverbs 24:33
33a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,
Proverbs 12:24
24The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
Proverbs 12:27
27The slothful man doesn’t roast his game, but the possessions of diligent men are prized.
Study
Proverbs 26:13–16
The slacker: See Proverbs 6:6–11; 10:4–5; 15:19; 22:13.
Section overviews (1)
Proverbs 25:1–29.27
During King Hezekiah's reign from 728 to 686 BC, advisers gathered these proverbs of Solomon and added them to the collection.
26:14
(Compare Pro 6:10; Pro 24:33).
26:14
Having seen the slothful man in fear of his work, here we find him in love with his ease; he lies in his bed on one side till he is weary of that, and then turns to the other, but still in his bed, when it is far in the day and work is to be done, as the door is moved, but not removed; and so his business is neglected and his opportunities are let slip. See the sluggard's character. 1. He is one that does not care to get out of his bed, but seems to be hung upon it, as the door upon the hinges. Bodily ease, too much consulted, is the sad occasion of many a spiritual disease. Those that love sleep will prove in the end to have loved death. 2. He does not care to get forward with his business; in that he stirs to and fro a little, but to no purpose; he is where he was. Slothful professors turn, in profession, like the door upon the hinges. The world and the flesh are the two hinges on which they are hung, and though they move in a course of external services, have got into road of duties, and tread around in them like the horse in the mill, yet they get no good, they get no ground, they are never the nearer heaven - sinners unchanged, saints unimproved.
26:14
As the door turneth upon his hinges,.... And moves this way and that way, and opens and shuts, and yet hangs where it did, is not moved from its place:
so doth the slothful upon his bed; he turns himself from side to side, but is still on his bed, and does not move out of it, and go about his business. Aben Ezra makes mention of another reading and sense, "the door turneth upon his hinges", and is opened to let men out, one and another, to his work; "but yet the slothful man is upon his bed"; though one and another rise and go about business, and he hears the door open again and again, he stirs not, but keeps his, bed. So profane sinners lie on the bed of sinful lusts and sensual pleasures, indulge themselves in chambering and wantonness, and do not care to rise from hence, and walk honestly as in the daytime; and though their consciences are sometimes jogged by inward pricks, and they are moved a little by the reproofs of their friends, or awakened by the judgments of God; yet these are quickly over, and they give themselves a turn and go to sleep again: sometimes there are some motions in them, some thoughts and resolutions of amendment, some purposes to do good works; but, alas! their slothfulness is so great, and the habits and customs of sin so strong, that they cannot break through them, shake off their sloth, and come out, but remain as they were: and so it is with carnal professors, resting in their own works, and in a round of duties; and after ten, twenty, thirty years' profession, or more, they are just where they were; have no spiritual knowledge, judgment, and experience.
26:14
Turneth upon his hinges; moving hither and thither upon them, but not removing one jot from its place.
26:14
14 The door turneth on its hinges,
And the sluggard on his bed.
The comparison is clear. The door turns itself on its hinges, on which it hangs, in and out, without passing beyond the narrow space of its motion; so is the fool on his bed, where he turns himself from the one side to the other. He is called עצל, because he is fast glued to the place where he is (Arab. 'azila), and cannot be free (contrast of the active, cf. Arab. ḥafyf, moving nimbly, agilis). But the door offers itself as a comparison, because the diligent goes out by it to begin his work without (Pro 24:27; Psa 104:23), while the sluggard rolls himself about on his bed. The hook, the hinge, on which the door is moved, called ציר, from צוּר, to turn,
(Note: The Arab. verb signifies radically: to turn, like the Persian verbs kashatn and kardydan, and like our "werden" to grow, turn, accords with vertere (Fleischer).)
has thus the name of הסּוב.