A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish, And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth.

The slothful hath hidden his hand in a dish, Even unto his mouth he bringeth it not back.

A slothful man hides his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

The hater of work puts his hand deep into the basin, and will not even take it to his mouth again.

The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish, And will not so much as bring it back to his mouth.

The lazy conceals his hand under his arm, and he will not so much as bring it to his mouth.

Hideth his hand in his bosom - Better, dippeth his hand in the dish (compare 2-Kings 21:13). The scene brought before us is that of an Eastern feast. There are no knives, or forks, or spoons. Every guest has to help himself, or be helped by the host. Compare John 13:26.

A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom - Is too lazy to feed himself, If he dip his hand once in the dish, he is too lazy to put it in a second time. It is a strange case that a man, through his excessive slothfulness, would rather starve than put himself to the trouble to eat.

A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom,.... In cold weather to keep it warm, and at other times, as unwilling to use it in labour; it is the proper posture and just attitude of a slothful man. The word for "bosom" is sometimes used for a "pot" or "platter" (u); and then the sense is, that he puts his hands under a pot over a fire to warm them; or in one removed at some distance from the fire, as Jarchi; or rather it may signify his putting his hand into a plate of food, and yet so slothful, as it follows,
and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again; so sluggish, that he will rather starve than be at the pains to feed himself; he will not take his hand out of his bosom, to take food out of the dish to feed himself with; and even when his hand is in the dish, he will not take it from thence again, and lift it to his mouth; an hyperbolical expression. Gussetius (w) thinks, it may have respect to such slothful men, who are careless and negligent to their souls; who, though they have the holy Scriptures in their hands, like a vessel full of wholesome food for the soul, yet will not make use of the least mite out of them, that they may receive eternal life.
(u) "in patinam", Tigurine version; "in lebete", Mercerus, Michaelis; "in patinia", Cocceius; "in paropsidem", Schultens. (w) Ebr. Comment. p. 715.

Indolence, when indulged, so grows upon people, that they have no heart to do the most needful things for themselves.

bosom--literally, a wide dish in which the hand was plunged in eating (Matthew 26:23). Compare Proverbs 26:15, the sentiment expressed with equal irony and less exaggeration.

24 The slothful hath thrust his hand into the dish;
He bringeth it not again to his mouth.
This proverb is repeated in a different form, Proverbs 26:15. The figure appears, thus understood, an hyperbole, on which account the lxx understand by צלחת the bosom or lap, κόλπον; Aquila and Symmachus understand by it the arm-pit, μασχάλην or μάλην; and the Jewish interpreters gloss it by חיק (Kimchi) or קרע החלוק, the slit (Ita. fenditura) of the shirt. But the domestic figure, 2-Kings 21:13, places before us a dish which, when it is empty, is wiped and turned upside down;
(Note: While צפּחת, ṣaḥfat, in the sense of dish, is etymologically clear, for צלּחת, neither ṣalaḥ (to be good for), nor salakh (to be deaf, mangy), offers an appropriate verbal meaning. The Arab. zuluh (large dishes) stands under zalah (to taste, of the tasting of good), but is scarcely a derivative from it. Only צלח, which in the meaning of good for, proceeding from the idea of penetrating through, has retained the root-meaning of cleft, furnishes for צלּחת and צלוחית a root-word in some measure useful.)
and that the slothful when he eats appears too slothful to bring his hand, e.g., with the rice or the piece of bread he has taken out of the dish, again to his mouth, is true to nature: we say of such a man that he almost sleeps when he eats. The fut. after the perf. here denotes that which is not done after the former thing, i.e., that which is scarcely and only with difficulty done; לּו גּם may have the meaning of "yet not," as at Psalm 129:2; but the sense of "not once" = ne quidem, lies here nearer Deuteronomy 23:3.

Bring it - To feed himself; he expects that the meat should drop into his mouth.