Proverbs 24:23-34

Second Division, Proverbs 24:23.

This section constitutes the second division of the Sayings of the Wise, as Proverbs 24:23 a indicates. It contains a short collection of sayings varying in form and character, resembling in the main those of Proverbs 22:17 to Proverbs 24:22. The greater part (Proverbs 24:30) is a vivid description of the effects of slothfulness, which may be compared with the passage on the drunkard in Proverbs 23:29. Possibly both belonged to a collection containing, after the manner of Theophrastus, similar characterizations of different vices. For Proverbs 24:33 f; cf. Proverbs 6:10 f.