Proverbs Chapter 20 verse 4 Holy Bible

ASV Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
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BBE Proverbs 20:4

The hater of work will not do his ploughing because of the winter; so at the time of grain-cutting he will be requesting food and will get nothing.
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DARBY Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plough by reason of the winter; he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
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KJV Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.
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WBT Proverbs 20:4


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WEB Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
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YLT Proverbs 20:4

Because of winter the slothful plougheth not, He asketh in harvest, and there is nothing.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold; propter frigus, Vulgate. But חֹרֶפ (choreph) denotes the time of gathering - the autumn; so we would translate, "At the time of harvest the sluggard ploughs not" - just when the ground is most easily and profitably worked. "The weakness of the coulter and other parts of the plough requires that advantage be taken, in all but the most friable soils, of the softening of the surface by the winter or spring rains; so that the peasant, if industrious, has to plough in the winter, though sluggards still shrink from its cold, and have to beg in the harvest" (Geikie, 'Holy Land and Bible,' 2:491). Therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. So the Vulgate, Mendicabit ergo aestate, et non dabitur illi. But this does not accurately represent the meaning of the clause. If ever the prosperous are disposed to relieve the needy, it would be at the time when they have safely garnered their produce; an appeal to their charity at such a moment would not be made in vain. Rather the sentence signifies that the lazy man, having neglected to have his land ploughed at the proper time, "when he asks (for his fruits) at harvest time, there is nothing." He puts off tilling his fields day after day, or never looks to see if his labourers do their duty, and so his land is not cultivated, and he has no crop to reap when autumn comes. "By the street of By-and-by one arrives at the house of Never" (Spanish proverb). Taking a different interpretation of the word choreph, the LXX. renders, "Being reproached, the sluggard is not ashamed, no more than he who borrows corn in harvest."

Ellicott's Commentary