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100 Bible Verses about Laziness Proverbs

Proverbs 20:4 ESV / 18 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 18 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:4 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:15 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 21:25 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:4 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:6 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 10 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:24 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.

Proverbs 10:26 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

Hebrews 6:12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 8 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.

Ecclesiastes 10:18 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 15:19 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV / 7 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.

Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV / 7 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.

Proverbs 14:23 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

James 2:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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.

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Romans 12:11 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Proverbs 26:13-16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Proverbs 26:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”

Proverbs 22:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

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

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV / 5 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.

James 4:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

James 1:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Colossians 3:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Matthew 25:26-30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV / 4 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.

Proverbs 10:4-5 ESV / 4 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 10:1-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 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 6:6-8 ESV / 4 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.

2 Peter 3:15-16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

James 2:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 1:23-25 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

James 1:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 6:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Titus 2:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

1 Timothy 2:1-15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ...

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 ESV / 3 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.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— ...

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ESV / 3 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.

1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 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.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Colossians 3:24 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 1:1-29 ESV / 3 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 2:8-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2 Corinthians 12:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

1 Corinthians 10:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Acts 2:45-47 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

John 7:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

Luke 16:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jeremiah 15:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.

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. ...

Proverbs 28:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

Proverbs 26:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.

Proverbs 22:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.

Proverbs 15:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Revelation 22:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

1 John 2:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: ...

1 Peter 2:1-25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ...

James 1:1-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ...

Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Colossians 1:28-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Ephesians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Galatians 6:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV / 2 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.

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ...

Acts 20:34-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

John 9:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 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.

John 3:1-36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ...

Matthew 25:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?

Matthew 25:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’

Proverbs 26:1-28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. ...

Proverbs 24:30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

Proverbs 23:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 22:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

Proverbs 21:25-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

Proverbs 21:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. ...

Proverbs 19:1-29 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. ...

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