proverb · Words worth keeping
Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send thee flax.
Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send thee flax.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Prepare the means to do a task instead of waiting passively for everything to arrive. The tools come first, while the materials are pictured as coming through providence.
What the words are saying
The saying joins practical readiness with trust. Its speaker asks for tools to be prepared before the necessary flax is supplied, so hope does not replace the act of getting ready. In a religious reading, provision is entrusted to God; a broader application highlights the part a person can do while an opportunity remains uncertain. It can encourage preparation that has a real purpose. It should not promise that every prepared person will receive resources, or blame someone when an opportunity fails to appear.
Everyday example
A learner sets up a workspace and practises a basic technique while waiting for a chance to join a project.
When to use it
Use it to connect hopeful expectation with practical preparation.
What it does not mean
Preparation does not guarantee provision, and the religious promise is not a factual forecast.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 594 · Flax
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English