The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. Diligence shall secure the rule over others; but slothfulness (literally, fraud; cf. Jeremiah 48:10, margin. For they who are slothful often use fraud to save themselves the trouble of labour) brings one under the rule of others.