Proverbs 20:13 - Meaning and Application

Those who give themselves to ease can expect to lack what they need, especially what honest work should have provided. So, although you must sleep, because your body needs it, do not love sleep. Do not love it for its own sake, as if you hated work. Use sleep only as a way to gain strength for more work.

Do not sleep too much. Rather, think of the time spent sleeping as a loss, and wish you could live without needing so much of it, so you could always be busy in some good task. We should allow sleep to our bodies the way a master allows rest to a servant, because it is necessary and because otherwise the servant would not be useful.

People who love sleep are likely to become poor. That happens not only because they waste the time they spend sleeping too long, but also because they grow dull and careless. They are as if still half asleep, never fully awake to their duties.

On the other hand, those who rouse themselves to work may expect to have what they need. Open your eyes, wake up, and shake off sleep. Notice how much of the day is left, how much your work needs you, and how busy others are around you.

When you are awake, look up and pay attention to your opportunities. Do not let them pass by. Apply your mind closely to your work and care about it. If you do that, you will at least have enough to live on. Even if you do not become rich, you will have bread enough, and that is as good as a feast.