עַצְלָה

From the study of Ecclesiastes 10:18

Range of meaning

From the root 'atsal, 'to be sluggish, slow to act'. The related adjective 'atsel, 'the sluggard', is a stock character in Proverbs (6:6-11; 24:30-34; 26:13-16). He is not resting. He keeps putting off what needs doing. The feminine noun 'atslah means 'sluggishness' (Prov 19:15; 31:27). Here it appears in an odd dual ending (-tayim).

Against the English

KJV's 'much slothfulness' tries to capture the dual as intensifying. BSB/WEB 'laziness/slothfulness' drop it. ESV 'sloth' is accurate but sounds churchy to modern ears.

How it drifted

'Sloth' and 'slothfulness' now suggest the medieval list of seven deadly sins (where acedia was partly a spiritual listlessness) or the animal. The Hebrew is practical: putting off maintenance work.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX uses a plural, en oknēriais, 'in sluggishnesses', so it saw something unusual in the form. The Vulgate also uses a plural: in pigritiis. Hebrew grammarians debate whether the dual is intensive ('double laziness'), anticipates the two hands, or is an old noun form.

From the study of Proverbs 19:15

Range of meaning

Sluggishness, laziness, inertia. The form ʿatslāh occurs only here. Its relatives are common: the adjective/noun ʿātsēl, 'sluggard', appears 14 times in Proverbs; ʿatslût, 'idleness', in Proverbs 31:27 ('she does not eat the bread of idleness'); ʿatsaltayim, 'double laziness', in Ecclesiastes 10:18. The verb appears in Judges 18:9: 'do not be slow to go and take the land.'

Against the English

BSB/NIV 'laziness' and KJV/WEB 'slothfulness' both fit. 'Sloth', however, picks up a medieval sense from the list of seven deadly sins, where it named a spiritual apathy (Latin acedia). The Hebrew word is practical: not getting up and not doing the work.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'slothfulness/sloth' was ordinary English in 1611 but now sounds archaic or moral-theological to many readers. The Hebrew is about everyday sluggishness, not a technical vice category.

Used elsewhere in the period

The sluggard is a recurring, half-comic type in Proverbs. He sleeps while the ant works (6:6–11). He is like vinegar to the teeth (10:26). His path is a hedge of thorns (15:19). He buries his hand in the dish and will not lift it to his mouth (19:24, nine verses later). He does not plow in autumn and begs at harvest (20:4). He says 'There's a lion outside!' (22:13). He turns on his bed like a door on its hinge (26:14).