“Go to the ant, O sluggard”: This advice is similar to that in Job 12.7 in which Job advises his friends to learn from the birds and animals. See also Pro 30.25. “Go” means to go and observe or learn. We may say, for example, “Watch how the ants live,” “Watch the ants and learn how they do things,” or “Watch the ants at work and learn from them.” “The ant” is thought by some interpreters to refer to the harvester ant found commonly in the eastern Mediterranean area and many other regions of the world. Although the harvester ant stores grain in its underground nests, it also causes considerable damage. “Ant” is singular in the Hebrew, but it is to be taken in a collective sense. The author is advising the learner to watch not one single ant, but a colony of ants at work.

For “O” in addressing someone see the comments on 4.1. “Sluggard” refers to a lazy person, someone who remains idle even when idleness leads to ruin. The noun form of the Hebrew word is used only in Proverbs. In 19.24 the “sluggard” is so lazy he will not lift his hand from the plate to his mouth to feed himself. New Revised Standard Version calls him “lazybones.”

For the change to the new topic, some translations use a short attention-getting sentence, such as “You lazy people, I have got a word for you [like this]: Go and look at the good work of the ants. . ..”

“Consider her ways, and be wise”: “Consider” means here to observe, look at, watch, reflect on, or ponder. “Ant” is feminine in Hebrew, and so “her ways” refers to how the ants live, what they do, as in verses 7-8. “Be wise” in the Hebrew is a command in the masculine singular addressed to the “sluggard”. We may translate, for example, “so that you may be wise,” “and you will become wise,” or “so you may learn something about wisdom.”

Verse 6 may be translated, for example, “Lazy one, watch the way the ants work. Think about their ways and learn from them” or “Lazy people can learn by observing the life of ants.” See Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .