Proverbs 19:24
The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth.
Open Proverbs 19:24 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Abscondit piger manum suam sub ascella, nec ad os suum applicat eam.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from Proverbs 19:21
- ὁ ἐγκρύπτων εἰς τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ χεῖρας ἀδίκως, οὐδὲ τῷ στόματι οὐ μὴ προσενέγκῃ αὐτάς.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- טָ֘מַ֤ן עָצֵ֣ל יָ֭דוֹ בַּצַּלָּ֑חַת גַּם אֶל פִּ֝֗יהוּ לֹ֣א יְשִׁיבֶֽנָּה
Haydock's commentary
Arm-pit. Or Hebrew tsallachath, "in the pot," out of which he eats; which shews his negligence.
Mouth, to eat. This hyperbole indicates that he is too lazy to take the necessary sustenance, chap. xxvi. 15. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "in his breast unjustly. Neither will he bring them to his mouth." (Haydock)
He will bestow nothing, and shall reap no benefit from his avarice. (St. Bernard)
He will not practise what he teaches. (St. Gregory, Mor. xii. 10.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
The Apostolic Constitutions Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, Sec. II. On the Character and Teaching of the Bishop
IV . For if there be a widow who is able to support herself, and another woman who is not a widow, but is needy by reason of sickness, or the bringing up many children, or infirmity of her hands, let him stretch out his hand in charity rather to this latter. But if any one be in want by gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance, or to be esteemed a member of the Church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says: “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.” And again: “The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh.” “For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags .” And in another passage: “If thou give thine eyes to drinking and cups, thou shalt afterwards walk more naked than a pestle.” For certainly idleness is t …
The Apostolic Constitutions Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, Sec. VIII. On the Duty of Working for a Livelihood
LXIII . Let the young persons of the Church endeavour to minister diligently in all necessaries: mind your business with all becoming seriousness, that so you may always have sufficient to support yourselves and those that are needy, and not burden the Church of God. For we ourselves, besides our attention to the word of the Gospel, do not neglect our inferior employments. For some of us are fishermen, some tentmakers, some husbandmen, that so we may never be idle. So says Solomon somewhere: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways diligently, and become wiser than she. For she, having neither field, overseer, nor ruler, prepareth her food in the summer, and layeth up a great store in the harvest. Or else go to the bee, and learn how laborious she is, and her work how valuable it is, whose labours both kings and mean men make use of for their health. …
St Augustine A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, Another Calumny of Julian, That 'It is Said that Marriage is Not Appointed by God.'
But now let us see what follows. “They say also,” he says, “that those marriages which are now celebrated were not appointed by God, and this is to be read in Augustin’s book, against which I replied in four books. And the words of this Augustin our enemies have taken up by way of hostility to the truth.” To these most calumnious words I see that a brief answer must be made, because he repeats them afterwards when he wishes to insinuate what such men as they would say, as if against my words. On that point, with God’s assistance, I must contend with him as far as the matter shall seem to demand. …