Proverbs 26:14

Like ¹  a door that turns on its hinges, ²  so a sluggard turns ³  on his bed.

Pr 6:9,10; Pr 12:24,27; Pr 24:33; Heb 6:12

¹ tn The comparative “like” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from context in the translation.

² sn The sluggard is too lazy to get out of bed – although he would probably rationalize this by saying that he is not at his best in the morning. The humor of the verse is based on an analogy with a door – it moves back and forth on its hinges but goes nowhere. Like the door to the wall, the sluggard is “hinged” to his bed (e.g., Prov 6:9-10; 24:33).

³ tn The term “turns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation from the parallelism.