65 Bible Verses about Idle Hands Are The Devils Playground

Proverbs 16:27 ESV / 226 helpful votes

A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

Proverbs 19:15 ESV / 170 helpful votes

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

1 Timothy 5:13 ESV / 160 helpful votes

Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 133 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 ESV / 118 helpful votes

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Matthew 12:36 ESV / 107 helpful votes

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 95 helpful votes

Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 94 helpful votes

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

Proverbs 6:6-11 ESV / 89 helpful votes

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, ...

Ecclesiastes 10:18 ESV / 61 helpful votes

Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.

Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV / 56 helpful votes

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

2 Thessalonians 3:11 ESV / 47 helpful votes

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

Proverbs 31:27 ESV / 39 helpful votes

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 14:23 ESV / 31 helpful votes

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

Titus 3:14 ESV / 29 helpful votes

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 ESV / 29 helpful votes

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ...

Psalm 28:4 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.

1 Peter 4:15 ESV / 20 helpful votes

But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

Proverbs 20:4 ESV / 20 helpful votes

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 ESV / 15 helpful votes

And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 12 helpful votes

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ...

Proverbs 15:19 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

Proverbs 16:29 ESV / 10 helpful votes

A man of violence entices his neighbor and leads him in a way that is not good.

Isaiah 3:1-26 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms. And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them. And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable. ...

Proverbs 23:21 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Titus 1:12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

1 Timothy 6:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

2 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

Proverbs 28:19 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.

Proverbs 21:25 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

Proverbs 12:11 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

Proverbs 10:4 ESV / 8 helpful votes

A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Proverbs 10:4-5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV / 8 helpful votes

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

Luke 1:37 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Proverbs 26:11-23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. ...

Proverbs 17:1-28 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. ...

Psalm 90:1-17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: ...

2 Samuel 11:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

2 Thessalonians 3:7-8 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

2 Corinthians 5:18-6:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ...

2 Corinthians 3:6-4:15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ...

Luke 10:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Hosea 13:1-16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through Baal and died. And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of them, “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!” Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or like the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor or like smoke from a window. But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; ...

James 4:9-5:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ...

1 Timothy 5:11-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Ephesians 5:13-18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ...

Galatians 5:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Matthew 28:19-20 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Ezekiel 15:1-16:63 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! ...

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

Proverbs 15:1-33 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent. ...

Proverbs 13:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Psalm 120:1-122:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! ...

Galatians 6:6-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. ...

Isaiah 1:1-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ...

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

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