12:24
Notice the parallel parts that contrast in meaning:
24a
The hand of the diligent will rule,
24b but laziness ends in forced labor.
This verse contrasts people who work diligently with people who are lazy. The first kind of people will attain positions of authority. The second kind will be forced to work without pay.
12:24a
The hand of the diligent will rule: The word hand here is a figure of speech (synecdoche) in which a part represents the whole. In this context, The hand of the diligent represents a person who works hard. Such a person will rule. In other words, he will rise to a position of power or authority as a master, leader or ruler.
If a literal translation of The hand of the diligent is difficult to understand in your language, some other ways to translate this figure of speech are:
Hard workers will become leaders (New Century Version)
-or-
Diligence brings people to power (Revised English Bible)
12:24b
but laziness ends in forced labor: The term forced labor refers to hard work that a group of people are forced to do without pay. The work that the Israelites did in making bricks and building cities for the Egyptians is a good example. Another example is the hard work that the Israelites were forced to do for King Solomon.
A number of English versions use expressions translate the term forced labor with the singular word “slave.” For example:
be lazy and become a slave (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
being lazy will make you a slave (Good News Translation)
These versions are probably using the word “slave” in the general sense of a person who is forced to work without pay. However, the Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forced labor here is never used of an individual, domestic slave. As noted above, it refers to a group of workers.
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