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97 Bible Verses about Spiritual Idleness

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 20:4 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:4 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Ecclesiastes 10:18 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV / 12 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 19:15 ESV / 12 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:13-16 ESV / 9 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 22:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 15:19 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

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.

Proverbs 19:24 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 5:13 ESV / 7 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.

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 21:25 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 6:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 5 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.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ESV / 5 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 4:28 ESV / 5 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.

Romans 12:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Matthew 25:26 ESV / 5 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?

Proverbs 23:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 14:23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:9-11 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.

Proverbs 6:6-11 ESV / 5 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, ...

Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV / 5 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.

Hebrews 6:11-12 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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.

2 Thessalonians 3:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 ESV / 4 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.

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.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV / 4 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.

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 26:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

Revelation 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

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 3:23-24 ESV / 3 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.

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 14:40 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But all things should be done decently and in order.

Acts 17:21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

John 9:4 ESV / 3 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 5:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Isaiah 56:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Proverbs 31:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 31:10-31 ESV / 3 helpful votes

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. ...

Proverbs 26:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 21:25-26 ESV / 3 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 10:4-5 ESV / 3 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.

Revelation 3:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

2 Peter 3:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

James 2:18 ESV / 2 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 / 2 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 3:6-15 ESV / 2 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. ...

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.

1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 ESV / 2 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 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Ephesians 6:5-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.

Ephesians 5:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:4 ESV / 2 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 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 5:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV / 2 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.

1 Corinthians 6:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

Romans 13:11-12 ESV / 2 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. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Romans 12:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

Romans 12:3 ESV / 2 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 ESV / 2 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.

Acts 17:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 13:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

John 4:34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his 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.

Matthew 25:26-30 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? 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.’

Matthew 25:24-30 ESV / 2 helpful votes

He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 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. ...

Matthew 25:14-30 ESV / 2 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 10:38 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Ezekiel 16:49 ESV / 2 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.

Ecclesiastes 4:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

Proverbs 26:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

Proverbs 24:33-34 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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 24:30-32 ESV / 2 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.

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 21:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

Genesis 3:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ...

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

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

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