Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 12:11

"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread; But he that followeth after vain [persons] is void of understanding." — Proverbs 12:11 (ASV)

The contrast continues between the life of industry and that of the idle, “vain person” of the “baser sort” (the Raca of Matthew 5:22). We might have expected that the second clause would have ended with such words as “shall lack bread,” but the contrast goes deeper. Idleness leads to a worse evil than that of hunger.