Proverbs 19:15

19:15 Laziness brings on ¹  a deep sleep, ² 

and the idle person ³  will go hungry. ⁴ 

Matthew 20:3

20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, ⁵  he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work.

Matthew 20:6

20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon ⁶  he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’

Matthew 25:26

25:26 But his master answered, ⁷  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

Romans 12:11

12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord.

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ⁸  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ⁹  – which is your reasonable service.

Romans 5:13

5:13 for before the law was given, ¹⁰  sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin ¹¹  when there is no law.

Hebrews 6:12

6:12 so that you may not be sluggish, ¹²  but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.

¹ tn Heb “causes to fall” or “casts”; NAB “plunges…into.”

² tn Or “complete inactivity”; the word תַּרְדֵּמָה (tardemah) can refer to a physical “deep sleep” (e.g., Gen 2:21; Jonah 1:5, 6); but it can also be used figuratively for complete inactivity, as other words for “sleep” can. Here it refers to lethargy or debility and morbidness.

³ tn The expression וְנֶפֶשׁ רְמִיָּה (vÿnefesh rÿmiyyah) can be translated “the soul of deceit” or “the soul of slackness.” There are two identical feminine nouns, one from the verb “beguile,” and the other from a cognate Arabic root “grow loose.” The second is more likely here in view of the parallelism (cf. NIV “a shiftless man”; NAB “the sluggard”). One who is slack, that is, idle, will go hungry.

⁴ sn The two lines are related in a metonymical sense: “deep sleep” is the cause of going hungry, and “going hungry” is the effect of deep sleep.

⁵ tn Grk “about the third hour.”

⁶ tn Grk “about the eleventh hour.”

⁷ tn Grk “But answering, his master said to him.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

⁹ tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.

¹⁰ tn Grk “for before the law.”

¹¹ tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”

¹² tn Or “dull.”