The Rewards of Diligence

As I was feeling completely overwhelmed last night with all that has to be done this semester, there was a verse in my daily readings that stuck out to me and encouraged me with great timeliness (as so often happens when we are in the Word). Since it made an impression upon me as I was reading, I decided to dig a bit deeper and a few additional nuggets popped out. The verse is Proverbs 10:4, which NASB translates as, "Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." (or in the Hebrew transliterated, "rash ‘oseh khaph-remiyyah weyad charutsiym ta’ashir.")

The grammar (as usual), is a bit tricky, and since my Hebrew is rusty at the moment, some commentators were helpful to my investigation.

The idea of 4A is expressed in a number of different ways in English:
"Lazy hands make a man poor"
"He who bears a sluggish hand becomes poor"
"Whoever works with a sluggish hand will be poor"

In 4B, the idea is often expressed:
"Diligent hands bring wealth."
"The hand of the diligent makes a man rich."
"But working hands bring profit."

The Hebrew expresses some neat facets that don't come across strongly in the translations. The parallelism here is apparent, and helps to emphasize the idea of the verse. Building our vocabulary first will be helpful.

rash - lack, need, poverty
‘oseh - to do, make, accomplish
khaph - hollow of the hand, palm
remiyyah - deceit(ful), idle, slack
weyad - hand (sometimes figurative "strength")
ḥarutsiym - sharp (of a threshing instrument), (figurative "diligent")
ta’ashir - abound, gain riches (i.e. "have an abundance")

Thus the parallelism is:
A: rash ‘oseh khaph-remiyyah
B: weyad ḥarutsiym ta’ashir

Literally:
A: Poor will be whoever works with a slack palm
B: But the hand of the diligent ones will have an abundance.

The choice of the two different words for hand (khaph and yad) makes the contrast stand out even greater. Perhaps the sense is that the "slack palm" is someone looking to gain something for nothing, thinking perhaps that others should provide for him... he is too literally to even lift a finger (pardon my pun), and thus he will be in constant need!

The comparison is interesting in that the word for "diligence" is literally used to describe a sharp threshing instrument, thus reinforcing the idea for the necessity of hard labor.

So, for the TPV rendering (Thornhill Paraphrase):

"Whoever has idle palms, wanting something for nothing, will always be in need, but whoever works hard and stays sharp will always have what he needs, and even then some!"

May our LORD help us to be diligent and not grow weary in all of our endeavors!