Proverbs 22 · Verse 13

Proverbs 22:13

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Proverbs 22:13, King James Version

Proverbs 22:13 in other translations

BSB	The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”
WEB	The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!”
ASV	The sluggard saith, There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets.
YLT	The slothful hath said, ‘A lion is without, In the midst of the broad places I am slain.'
DARBY	The sluggard saith, There is a lion without, I shall be killed in the streets!
BBE	The hater of work says, There is a lion outside: I will be put to death in the streets.
Webster	The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

What does Proverbs 22:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

13. Frivolous excuses satisfy the indolent man's conscience.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without - But why does he say so? Because he is a slothful man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary difficulties and dangers will be no more. He will not go abroad to work in the fields, because he thinks there is a lion in the way, he will not go out into the town for employment, as he fears to be assassinated in the streets! From both these circumstances he seeks total cessation from activity.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 22:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe saysH559

עָ֭צֵל'A.tzela sluggardH6102

אֲרִ֣י'a.Ria lionH738

בַח֑וּץva.Chutz[is] in the streetH2351

בְּת֥וֹךְbe.Tokhin [the] midst ofH8432

רְ֝חֹב֗וֹתre.cho.Vot[the] open placesH7339

אֵֽרָצֵֽחַ\׃'E.ra.Tze.achI will be killedH7523

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 22:13

Proverbs 26:13-16
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.
Numbers 13:32-33
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Proverbs 15:19
The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The slothful.That is, the slothful man uses any pretext, however improbable, to indulge his love of ease and indolence.
15:19; 26:13-16; Nu 13:32,33

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Proverbs 22:12
The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
Proverbs 22:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
Proverbs 22:14
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.

Read all of Proverbs 22

Proverbs 22:13 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Dice el perezoso: El león está fuera; en mitad de las calles seré muerto.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Le paresseux dit: Il y a un lion là dehors, je serai tué au milieu des rues!
German Elberfelder 1871	Der Faule spricht: Ein Löwe ist draußen; ich möchte ermordet werden mitten auf den Straßen!
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Dicit piger: Leo est foris; in medio platearum occidendus sum.