Proverbs Chapter 6

Commonplace –

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:6-11).

Avoiding slothfulness is just one of the many important points Solomon touches on in Proverbs 6. In his summary on Proverbs 6, Matthew Henry notes,

“We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interest, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this” (672).

As Henry wisely observes in Proverbs Chapter 6, Solomon touches on many sins to avoid in our day to day dealings in the secular world:

1. Avoid being a surety for others. If you do enter into such a situation, don’t stop working until the debt is paid.
2. Avoid being lazy, because it leads to poverty.
3. Avoid being froward, an ancient word that refers to contrariness. The examples Solomon gives are those of the wicked, cunning person, who devises “mischief continually” (v. 14).
4. Avoid the following seven things, which God hates: “a proud look”, “a lying tongue”, “hands that shed innocent blood”, “a heart that devises wicked imaginations”, feet that run to mischief, being “a false witness that speaketh lies”, sowing “discord among brethren”.
5. Avoid whorish women (and men).
6. Avoid adultery.

All of these things are sins, but, even if you don’t believe in sin, these things make life difficult.

Instead, “keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not thy law of thy mother”, which hearkens back to Solomon’s words in Proverbs 1:8, “hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother”. Some may not have had fathers and mothers who imparted worthy instruction, which makes reading Proverbs all the more important and necessary. Solomon’s words to his own son serve as useful instruction to us, and the words of the Bible itself impart knowledge of the law. Therefore, we are without excuse.

Works Cited

Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs 6.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg