Proverbs 20:13 - Exposition

Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty (see Proverbs 6:9 , etc.). The fate of the sluggard is handled again in Proverbs 23:21 , as often before; e.g. Proverbs 12:11 ; Proverbs 19:15 . The LXX ; taking שֵׁנָה ( shenah ) , "sleep," as perhaps connected with the verb שְׁנָה ( shanah ) , translate, "Love not to rail, that thou be not exalted ( ἵνα μὴ ἐξαρωῇς ) , " i.e. probably, "Do not calumniate others in order to raise yourself;" others translate, "lest thou be cut off." Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satired with bread. These words seem to connect this clause with Proverbs 19:12 . God gives the faculty, but man must make due use thereof. The gnomist urges, "Do not slumber at your post, or sit downwardly waiting; but be up and doing, be wakeful and diligent, and then you shall prosper."