What Does Proverbs 26:13 Mean in the King James?

The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.

Proverbs 26:13 · KJV

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 lion fills both the road and the open square, until no space seems passable.

THE MEANING

This verse shows how a warning can spread from the path to the streets until everywhere seems dangerous. Fear can make remaining still sound like prudence, even when the danger is only being named, not shown.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that every blocked step proves the world is impassable: sometimes the warning itself is how avoidance speaks.

THE ROOT

הָרְחֹבוֹת

ha-rechovot

GROWS FROM

רחב

To be broad or spacious.

The Hebrew word for “streets,” ⁨הָרְחֹבוֹת⁩ (ha-rechovot, the broad places), comes from ⁨רָחַב⁩ (rachav, to be broad or spacious). The lion is named not only on the road but in the places where space opens; fear fills even spaciousness with obstruction.

ALSO GROWS

rechov: A broad place or street.

רְחֹב

This is the singular form behind the verse’s “streets,” linking the claimed danger to open space.

merchav: A wide, open place or expanse.

מֶרְחָב

It carries the same root of spaciousness and appears in the connected verse as “a large place.”

THE PATTERN

Perceived danger can become a reason to withhold movement, even when the next act remains possible.

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

Proverbs 22:13 · KJVThe danger moves from the street outside to a prediction of death, giving the speaker another reason not to go out.

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 · KJVWatching for every possible obstacle can keep the hand from sowing and reaping.

And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

Matthew 25:25 · KJVFear turns into inaction when the entrusted thing is buried instead of used.

THE THREAD

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19 · KJV

The “large place” is ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merchav, a broad place), from ⁨רָחַב⁩ (rachav, to be broad or spacious), the same root behind “streets” in this verse. Here, the open place is crowded with a lion; in the psalm, being brought into spaciousness is itself deliverance.

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