Proverbs 21:25

the desire of the slothful killeth him This may mean either (a) his desire for slothful inaction brings him to want and starvation, because through its indulgence (as the 2nd clause of the verse explains) his hands refuse to do the work by which maintenance is to be obtained; or (b) his desire for the necessaries and comforts of life, or even for nobler things, wears him out with unsatisfied longings. Comp. Proverbs 21:26 below and Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 19:24. "Idleness is ruin; the soul rusts away, like the sword in Hudibras, which

-ate into itself for lack

Of something else to hew and hack." " Horton.