Proverbs 6:4-16

⁴Don't delay, saying that you'll sleep on it. Don't rest until you've done it.

⁵Get out of it like a gazelle escaping from a trap, like a bird from a bird-catcher's net.

⁶Go and observe the ants, you slacker! Learn from what they do and become wise.

⁷They don't have a leader, an officer, or a ruler,

⁸yet they work hard during the summer getting their food, gathering what they need during the harvest.

⁹So how long are you going to lie there, you slacker? When are you going to get up from your sleep?

¹⁰You may say, “Please, just a little more sleep, a little longer snooze, a little more folding of the arms to rest”—

¹¹and poverty will attack you like a robber, destitution like an armed warrior.

¹²Rebellious and wicked people go around telling lies,

¹³winking slyly, giving sneaky foot gestures, rudely pointing with their fingers.

¹⁴Their warped minds plot evil schemes; they're always causing trouble.

¹⁵As a result, disaster falls suddenly on such people; in just a moment they're destroyed without hope of healing.

¹⁶There are six things that the Lord hates, seven things that he absolutely detests: