For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• Productive and counterproductive -- the wise constructs, the foolish destructs (v.1).
• Hard work leads to a profit (v.4). Here is the rendering in the Jerusalem Bible:  "No oxen, no cattle-feed; stout ox, rich crop." Here the JB, a sensitive and literary translation, captures the feel of the Semitic original.
• 14:23 contains a similar thought.
• Each heart knows its own pains and joys. Be careful with feigning empathy or understanding.
• 14:12 is a doublet with 16:25.

Version: Today I read from the NIV and the JB.

Challenge:

• Value hard work -- and hard workers.
• When we feel ourselves being dilatory or procrastinating, think of the person we deeply respect and let his or her example motivate us to follow through!
• As someone put it, "Be thankful if your job is a little harder than you like. A razor can’t be sharpened on a piece of velvet." And there's the old Arab adage, "Smooth seas do not make skilled sailors."

Tomorrow: Proverbs 15 (NIV and The Message)