17 Bible Verses about Waste

John 6:12 ESV / 171 helpful votes

And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Leviticus 23:22 ESV / 35 helpful votes

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 33 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 30 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:23 ESV / 27 helpful votes

The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice.

Deuteronomy 24:19 ESV / 21 helpful votes

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Genesis 1:28 ESV / 14 helpful votes

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Mark 14:3-5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

Isaiah 54:16 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;

Numbers 35:33 ESV / 11 helpful votes

You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Proverbs 4:2-3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

Mark 14:3-6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

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.

Ephesians 5:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV / 4 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.

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