and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.
For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”
The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.