What Does Proverbs 12:27 Mean in the King James?
The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The catch is not yet provision: its value emerges when the work of preparing it is carried through.
THE MEANING
This verse names the gap between obtaining something and realizing its value: the catch is there, but it has not become food. What the diligent person gathers becomes precious through follow-through and care.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that securing an opportunity means its value is already realized.
THE ROOT
רְמִיָּה
remiyyāh
GROWS FROM
רמה
To deceive or deal treacherously; רְמִיָּה also carries the sense of slackness or laxity.
“slothful” in this verse is remiyyāh. Alongside slackness, the Hebrew word carries the sense of deceit or treachery. The catch seems to promise provision, yet leaving it unprepared lets that promise go unrealized.
ALSO GROWS
rāmāh: To deceive or deal treacherously
רָמָה
This root sense adds a shade of withheld or unfulfilled expectation to the slackness named in the verse.
remiyyāh: Slackness, deceit, or treachery
רְמִיָּה
The word holds lax effort and deception in the same range, fitting a catch whose promise is left unfinished.
חָרוּץ
ḥārûṣ
GROWS FROM
חרץ
To cut or sharpen; by extension, to determine or decree.
“diligent” in this verse is ḥārûṣ. This word carries the sense of sharpness and decision as well as diligence. The contrast is not simply between effort and laziness, but between work that stays unfinished and effort that gives what was gathered a completed form.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāraṣ: To cut, sharpen, determine, or decree
חָרַץ
Its sense of making a clear cut or decision illuminates diligence as directed follow-through.
ḥārûṣ: Sharp, decisive, or diligent
חָרוּץ
The verse uses this word for the person whose gathered substance is valuable.
THE PATTERN
What has been gathered becomes provision through the work that completes and preserves it.
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.THE THREAD
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.The word חָרוּץ (ḥārûṣ, diligent) appears in both verses. Its echo ties valuable substance to directed follow-through: the catch does not become food merely because it was caught.
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