Proverbs 6:8
New International Version
yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

New Living Translation
they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

English Standard Version
she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Berean Standard Bible
it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.

King James Bible
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

New King James Version
Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.

New American Standard Bible
Prepares its food in the summer And gathers its provision in the harvest.

NASB 1995
Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest.

NASB 1977
Prepares her food in the summer, And gathers her provision in the harvest.

Legacy Standard Bible
Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest.

Amplified Bible
She prepares her food in the summer And brings in her provisions [of food for the winter] in the harvest.

Christian Standard Bible
it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest.

American Standard Version
Provideth her bread in the summer, And gathereth her food in the harvest.

Contemporary English Version
but they store up food during harvest season.

English Revised Version
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
in summertime it stores its food supply. At harvest time it gathers its food.

Good News Translation
but they store up their food during the summer, getting ready for winter.

International Standard Version
but prepares its provisions in the summer and gathers its food in the harvest.

Majority Standard Bible
it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.

NET Bible
yet it prepares its food in the summer; it gathers at the harvest what it will eat.

New Heart English Bible
provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

Webster's Bible Translation
Provideth her provisions in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

World English Bible
provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
She prepares her bread in summer, "" She has gathered her food in harvest.

Young's Literal Translation
She doth prepare in summer her bread, She hath gathered in harvest her food.

Smith's Literal Translation
She will prepare in summer her bread, gathering her food in harvest.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Catholic Public Domain Version
she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat.

New American Bible
She procures her food in the summer, stores up her provisions in the harvest.

New Revised Standard Version
it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
She provides her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And she prepares for herself her bread from the summer and she stores her food at harvest.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Provideth her bread in the summer, And gatherest her food in the harvest.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
he prepares food for himself in the summer, and lays by abundant store in harvest. Or go to the bee, and learn how diligent she is, and how earnestly she is engaged in her work; whose labours kings and private men use for health, and she is desired and respected by all: though weak in body, she is advanced by honouring wisdom.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Warnings Against Foolishness
7Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler, 8it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest. 9How long will you lie there, O slacker? When will you get up from your sleep?…

Cross References
Proverbs 30:25
The ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

Proverbs 10:5
He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

Proverbs 20:4
The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

Genesis 41:34-36
Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. / Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities. / This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine to come upon the land of Egypt. Then the country will not perish in the famine.”

Genesis 41:47-49
During the seven years of abundance, the land brought forth bountifully. / During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it. / So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.

Genesis 41:53-57
When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, / the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt. / When extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.” ...

Genesis 6:21
You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals.”

Genesis 41:33
Now, therefore, Pharaoh should look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:39-40
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. / You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people are to obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”

Matthew 25:1-13
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. / Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. / The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take along any extra oil. ...

Matthew 25:14-30
For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions. / To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. / The servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them to work and gained five more. ...

Luke 12:16-21
Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. / So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ / Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. ...

Luke 16:1-9
Jesus also said to His disciples, “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. / So he called him in to ask, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in an account of your management, for you cannot be manager any longer.’ / The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg. ...

1 Timothy 5:8
If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” / For we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives, accomplishing nothing, but being busybodies. / We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly to earn their own living.


Treasury of Scripture

Provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

Proverbs 30:25
The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

1 Timothy 6:19
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

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Bread Food Gathered Gatherest Gathereth Gathers Gets Grain-Cutting Harvest Meat Prepare Prepares Provides Provideth Provision Provisions Stores Storing Summer Sustenance Time
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Proverbs 6
1. against indebtedness
6. idleness
12. and mischievousness
16. seven things detestable to God
20. the blessings of obedience
25. the mischief of unfaithfulness














yet it stores its provisions in summer
The phrase "yet it stores its provisions in summer" highlights the ant's diligent and foresighted behavior. The Hebrew root for "stores" is "כּוּן" (kun), which implies preparation and establishment. This word choice emphasizes the ant's proactive nature, setting an example for humans to prepare for future needs. In the ancient Near Eastern context, summer was a time of abundance, and the ant's actions serve as a metaphor for using times of plenty to prepare for times of scarcity. This principle is echoed throughout Scripture, encouraging believers to be wise stewards of their resources, as seen in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

and gathers its food at harvest
The phrase "and gathers its food at harvest" further illustrates the ant's industriousness. The Hebrew word for "gathers" is "אָסַף" (asaph), meaning to collect or assemble. This action signifies not only the collection of resources but also the wisdom in timing. Harvest time was crucial in ancient agrarian societies, marking the period when crops were reaped and stored for future use. The ant's behavior is a call to Christians to recognize and seize opportunities when they arise, ensuring that they are spiritually and materially prepared for the future. This aligns with the biblical principle of sowing and reaping, as found in Galatians 6:7-9, encouraging believers to persist in doing good and to trust in God's provision.

Verse 8. - Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. It is this characteristic, combined with what has just been said, which gives point to the lesson the sluggard is to learn. The teacher, as it were, argues: If the ant, so insignificant a creature in the order of the animal kingdom, is so provident, how much more should you be - you, a man endued with superior intelligence, and with so many more resources at hand, and with greater advantages! If the ant, with none to urge, direct, or control her work, is so industrious, surely she provides an example at which you, the sluggard, should blush, since there is every external incentive to rouse you to action - your duty to the community, the urgent advice of your friends, and your dignity as a man. If she provides for the future, much more should you do so, and threw off your sloth. Objection has been taken to what is here stated of the provident habits of the ant in storing food, on the ground that it is carnivorous and passes the winter in a state of torpidity. That the ant does lay up stores for future use has, however, been the opinion of all ages. Thus Hesiod ('Days,' 14) speaks of the ant as harvesting the grain, calling it ἴδρις, "the provident." Virgil says ('Georg.,' 1, 186; cf. 'AEneid,' 4:4027) -

"Veluti ingentem formicae farris acervum
Quum populant hiemis memores, tectoque repenunt."
So the ants, when they plunder a tall heap of corn, mindful of the winter, store it in their cave. The language of Horace ('Sat.,' 1:50, 32) might be a comment on our passage -

"Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris sicut
Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo,
Quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri,
Quae, simul universum contristat Aquarius annum
Non usquam prorepit, et illis utitur ante Quaesitis sapiens."


"For thus the little ant (to human lore
No mean example) forms her frugal store,
Gathered, with mighty toils, on every side,
Nor ignorant, nor careless to provide
For future want; yet when the stars appear
That darkly sadden the declining year,
No more she comes abroad, but wisely lives
On the fair store industrious summer gives."


(Francis' Translation.) The same provident character is noted in AEsop's fable, 'The Ant and the Grasshopper;' see also Aristotle ('Hist. Nat.,' 9:6). All objections on this subject appear to be based on insufficient data, and have been conclusively answered by recent observation. Apart from the remark of Buffon, that "the ants of tropical climates lay up provisions, and as they probably live the whole year, they submit themselves to regulations entirely unknown among the ants of Europe." The late Professor Darwin states of the agricultural ant of Texas, which in many features resembles the ant of Palestine, that it not only stores its food, but prepares the soil for the crops, keeps the ground free from weeds, and finally reaps the harvest (Journal of Linnaean Society, vol. 1, No. 21, p. 29). Canon Tristram also observes, "The language of the wise man is not only in accordance with the universal belief of his own time, but with the accurately ascertained facts of natural history. Contrary to its habits in colder climates, the ant is not there dormant through the winter; and among the tamerisks of the Dead Sea it may be seen, in January, actively engaged in collecting the aphides and saccharine exudations, in long flies passing and repassing up and down the trunk. Two of the most common species of the Holy Land (Alta barbara, the black ant, and Alta structor, the brown ant) are strictly seed feeders, and in summer lay up large stores of grain for winter use. These species are spread along the whole of the Mediterranean coasts, but are unknown in more northern climates. Hence writers who were ignorant of ants beyond those of their own countries have been presumptuous enough to deny the accuracy of Solomon's statement" ('Nat. Hist. of the Bible,' p. 320). The Mishna, section 'Zeraim,' also contains a curious piece of legislation which bears testimony to the storing properties of the ant.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
it prepares
תָּכִ֣ין (tā·ḵîn)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3559: To be erect

its provisions
לַחְמָ֑הּ (laḥ·māh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3899: Food, bread, grain

in summer;
בַּקַּ֣יִץ (baq·qa·yiṣ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7019: To awake

it gathers
אָגְרָ֥ה (’ā·ḡə·rāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 103: To harvest

its food
מַאֲכָלָֽהּ׃ (ma·’ă·ḵā·lāh)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3978: An eatable

at harvest.
בַ֝קָּצִ֗יר (ḇaq·qā·ṣîr)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7105: Severed, harvest, the crop, the time, the reaper, a limb


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 6:8 Provides her bread in the summer (Prov. Pro Pr)
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