Bible Strands
Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Solomon addresses Israel’s youth within a chapter of antithetical wisdom instructions, contrasting productive conduct with its practical failures. The verse operates as a direct counterpart to the surrounding couplets on speech and anxiety.
The words — The Hebrew חָרוּצִים (cha.ru.Tzim) denotes active diligence, while מַס (Mas) literally means a forced tax or conscripted labor. The text states that the hand of the diligent will rule, whereas idleness will become forced labor.
The thread — This contrast between diligence and idleness recurs in Proverbs 10:4, which links idle hands to poverty and diligent hands to wealth. The same theme appears in Proverbs 12:27 and Proverbs 21:25, where neglect of work leads to loss or death.
Why it lands — The passage demands a commitment to consistent work and warns that avoiding labor results in subjugation. It requires the reader to choose active stewardship over passive avoidance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 12:27 A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.
- Proverbs 10:4 Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.
- Proverbs 21:25 The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work.
- Proverbs 13:4 The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
- Proverbs 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
- Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
- Genesis 49:15 He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.
- 1 Kings 11:28 Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.
- Proverbs 17:2 A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son and share his inheritance as one of the brothers.
- Proverbs 22:13 The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”