98 Bible Verses about Using Your Time Wisely

Colossians 4:5 ESV / 258 helpful votes

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

Ephesians 5:16 ESV / 231 helpful votes

Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV / 213 helpful votes

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ...

Psalm 90:12 ESV / 210 helpful votes

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

James 4:14 ESV / 159 helpful votes

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

John 17:4 ESV / 143 helpful votes

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

Romans 13:11 ESV / 100 helpful votes

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Ephesians 5:15 ESV / 98 helpful votes

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 73 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...

Psalm 31:15 ESV / 58 helpful votes

My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

Proverbs 31:17-18 ESV / 53 helpful votes

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.

2 Corinthians 6:2 ESV / 50 helpful votes

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

James 4:13-15 ESV / 46 helpful votes

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”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

1 Corinthians 7:29 ESV / 44 helpful votes

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,

Psalm 127:2 ESV / 43 helpful votes

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Luke 14:1-35 ESV / 42 helpful votes

One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ...

Zephaniah 1:14 ESV / 39 helpful votes

The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.

Mark 16:17-18 ESV / 34 helpful votes

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Matthew 18:34-35 ESV / 33 helpful votes

And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Proverbs 6:6-11 ESV / 32 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, ...

2 Thessalonians 2:3-16 ESV / 30 helpful votes

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. ...

Micah 6:8 ESV / 28 helpful votes

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Revelation 13:16-18 ESV / 25 helpful votes

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Isaiah 1:1-31 ESV / 25 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. ...

Revelation 13:15 ESV / 22 helpful votes

And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

Proverbs 3:11 ESV / 20 helpful votes

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof,

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Matthew 24:23 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

Proverbs 31:1-31 ESV / 16 helpful votes

The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. ...

Matthew 5:23 ESV / 13 helpful votes

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Colossians 4:1-5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

John 3:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Luke 12:59 ESV / 10 helpful votes

I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Proverbs 16:9 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 8 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,

Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Proverbs 27:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV / 7 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.

Romans 12:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

John 9:4 ESV / 6 helpful votes

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Ecclesiastes 3:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

Proverbs 21:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

James 1:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Ephesians 5:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Romans 13:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Matthew 25:14-30 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ...

Matthew 6:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 5:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Proverbs 3:2 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

Psalm 31:14-15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

Ephesians 6:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 5:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Ephesians 2:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Galatians 1:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Ecclesiastes 11:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

Psalm 139:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Psalm 90:1-17 ESV / 4 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: ...

Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ...

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Ecclesiastes 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

Proverbs 16:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Psalm 90:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Revelation 13:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Revelation 11:1-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. ...

James 4:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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”—

James 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 2 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. ...

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, ...

Ephesians 5:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Galatians 3:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Romans 12:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

John 9:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Luke 14:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Luke 14:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

Matthew 25:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

Daniel 2:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm—

Jeremiah 29:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 1:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.

Isaiah 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Ecclesiastes 3:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Ecclesiastes 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Proverbs 31:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,

Proverbs 27:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.

Proverbs 6:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

Psalm 139:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

Suggest a Verse


Visit the Bible online to search for words if you don’t know the specific passage your’re looking for.