Sloth

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.

Lazy man falls prey to poverty

Ridiculously indolent and lover of sleep , the lazy man sees lions all over the street(overestimating the difficulty of getting a job or working). ; his desires ″kill″ him because ″his hands refuse to labour″, and his path becomes a ″hedge of thorns″ ... while he is wiser than seven sensible men in his own eyes. .... His household becomes a real ruin and he falls prey to his ″want″(scarcity) coming like an armed man and in the end to poverty, coming upon him like a robber. The sluggard (lazy man) will share this fate with the talkative persons, with dreamers that ″watch the wind″ or ″regard the clouds″ and with those who ″chase fantasies″ (follow worthless pursuits).

The lazy man with job and the rich lazy man

If, however, this lazy man is the type that, eventually, ″takes his food to mouth″ (because there is a type of lazy man who doesn’t even take his food to mouth) and has a job, he is like ″vinegar to the teeth″ and ″smoke to the eyes″ for those who send him with any task. If the sluggard is rich, he should avoid getting that lazy insensitiveness of the chief people of Zion, that delight themselves in every way possible, and whom the prophet Amos predicted they would become slaves.

The ant, model of diligence

The ant, which has no chief , no overseer, no ruler, is the model of foresight and diligence that lazy man should pay attention to, and in that way he becomes wiser.

The excellent wife

An excellent wife is hard to find and if so, she is ″far more precious than jewels″She ″does not eat the bread of idleness″. On the contrary she ″rises while it is yet night″, ″seeks wool and flax and works with willing hands″, ″provides food for her household and portions for her maidens″. ″She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant″, ″considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard″. ″She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy″. ″Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come″. ″She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.″

Young widows ″learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not″ if they don’t do what they should do, namely marry, have children and be housewives in their homes.

The lazy man leaves God's gifts unused

The wicked, worthless servant. that buries his talent in the ground, instead of investing the money with the banker, i.e. one who disregards God's gift, leaving it unused, is also lazy. His talent will be taken from him and will be given to the one who has 10 talents and the worthless servant is thrown into the darkness of hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (the entire parable of the talents here).

The lazy man breaks again the command of God

Whoever is lazy (slack) in his work becomes brother to one who destroys (meaning The Evil-One, the devil because the devil is murderer) for the second time He breaks again the command of God, Who sent him to work this time, for not obeying God, Who forbids them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The growth of the virtues is the enemy of laziness

The Christian must not become sluggish (lazy), but be a zealous follower of those who ″inherit the promises″ because the growth of the virtues makes the laziness go away.

Sources

1. Bible, English Standard Version Revised, 1971
2. Lookup