Proverbs 22:13

slain or, more in accordance with the usual meaning of the Heb. word, murdered, R.V. The sluggard then offers two absurd excuses for not going forth to his business. -Without," he says, beyond the city walls, in the open country, -there is a lion," ready to tear me in pieces (comp. Jeremiah 5:6); even into -the streets" I dare not venture, lest there some ruffian should -murder" me."

When, however, the proverb recurs (Proverbs 26:13), it is the lion that is the professed object of dread within the city:

The sluggard saith, There is a lion in the way,

A lion is in the streets.