Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 22:13 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: King James Version
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
Proverbs 22:13
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
11 He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
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People who do not love their work will always find excuses to avoid it. Many people ruin themselves, in body and soul, through laziness, and yet they still have some excuse ready. People are very skilled at deceiving their own hearts. In the end, who gains anything when those excuses are shown to be empty and useless?
Many keep themselves from real duties by imagining dangers that are not there. The lazy person says he has work outside in the fields, but he imagines a lion is there. He even claims he is afraid to walk through the streets because someone might meet him and kill him. He does not really believe this himself. He only says it to those who try to get him up and moving. He talks about a lion outside, but he does not think about his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion, who is with him, or from his own laziness, which is killing him.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 22:1
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."
Proverbs 22:2
"The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all."
Proverbs 22:3
"A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished."
Proverbs 22:4
"By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life."
Proverbs 22:5
"Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them."
Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
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