Proverbs 24:31
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
The field is neglected and untended, belonging to a slothful, sluggard person, and quickly becomes completely overgrown, covered over its face with thorns and nettles and briars and thistles, while its stone wall is broken down and fallen into disrepair. Idleness and neglect leave work unfinished and bring loss, and the danger calls for active, diligent work, with human faculties meant to be fully used rather than left inactive. That neglect is joined to habitual, unnecessary sleep and wasting daylight, which squanders valuable time and ends in poverty.
Diligence in the ordinary work of life is part of true religion. Those who know the truth yet remain inactive and idle are like that neglected field. When young people neglect the cultivation of mind and heart, the neglected ground of character becomes deformed and unlovely, overgrown as with briars and thorns, so that they do not respect themselves and are not happy. In the same way, when children are left without discipline, they are left vulnerable to growing disobedience and evil, just as neglect leaves a field quickly covered with weeds.