Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
– Proverbs 13:4

This proverbs contrasts wanting and having. The word for sluggard means indolent or lazy. We might even say sluggish to do anything. To desire is to wish for or to want something. The sluggard here has a desire for things but has nothing. The sluggard is a certain type of fool in the Proverbs. His character is sketched in vivid pictures. He is hinged to his bed (Proverbs 26:14). He produces outlandish excuses, such as a lion in the street (Proverbs 26:13). The sluggard is pure laziness (Proverbs 26:15). Sluggards tend to have plenty of ideas but they find out talk is truly cheap (Proverbs 14:23). The contrast is with the diligent and their being made fat. Fatness is a reference to abundance or plenteousness. The general tenor of the Proverbs is that diligence, hard work, is rewarded with profit (Proverbs 14:23). The diligent also desire like the sluggards do, but the difference is the diligent get up and work in order to have (Proverbs 21:5).

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