Paragraph 6:6–11

In this paragraph, the author introduces a different topic. He gives advice to lazy people, addressing them directly as “O slacker.” In some languages, it may be necessary to indicate this change of topic in some way. See the translation advice in the note on 6:6a.

6:6

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

6a
Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker;

6b
observe its ways and become wise.

6:6a–b

Walk in the manner of the ant…observe its ways: The Hebrew of the first command is literally “go to the ant.” It implies to go and watch or learn from the ant. The second command means essentially the same thing: to watch, think about, or learn from the behavior of ants. In translating this parallelism, some versions leave Walk implicit and combine and/or reorder the parallel parts (see the quotes from the Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version in the translation options for 6:6a). Other versions retain the parallelism, with or without the word “go.” For example:

Go watch the ants…Watch what they do (New Century Version)
-or-
Take a lesson from the ants…Learn from their ways (New Living Translation (2004))

Use whatever option is appropriate in your language.

6:6a

Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker: The Berean Standard Bible puts the phrase O slacker after the command Walk in the manner of the ant. In some languages, it may be more natural to put the command last and to indicate that this verse introduces a change of topic. For example:

As for you who are lazy, go to the ant.
-or-
Now I have some advice for people who are lazy. They should go to the ant.

Walk in the manner of the ant: The phrase the ant refers to ants as a group. It does not refer to one specific ant. The kind of ant referred to here is probably the harvester ant.

O slacker: The person who is addressed as O slacker represents a class of people, that is, anyone who is lazy. The hearer (addressed as “my son” in 6:1 and 6:3) was not necessarily lazy, but the author intended him to learn from this advice. Some ways to address the hearer are:

• Use second person singular. For example:

Go watch the ants, you lazy person. (New Century Version)

• Use second person plural. For example:

You lazy people can learn by watching an anthill. (Contemporary English Version)

• Use third person singular. For example:

A lazy person should learn from the behavior of ants.

• Use third person plural. For example:

Lazy people should learn a lesson from the way ants live. (Good News Translation)

Use whatever option is appropriate in your language for a teacher who is advising a young man about the dangers of laziness.

6:6b

and become wise: This is a command in Hebrew. Since it follows logically from the preceding commands, it may be more natural in some languages to translate it as a purpose or as a result. For example:

so that you will become wise
-or-
and then you will become wise

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