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100 Bible Verses about Laziness

Proverbs 13:4 ESV / 1,680 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 1,342 helpful votes

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

2 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV / 1,163 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 10:4 ESV / 1,123 helpful votes

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

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 867 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.

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 853 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 21:25 ESV / 727 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV / 703 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 20:4 ESV / 644 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:15 ESV / 623 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 610 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 568 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 14:23 ESV / 476 helpful votes

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

John 5:17 ESV / 460 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 6:6 ESV / 457 helpful votes

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

James 4:17 ESV / 431 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:13-16 ESV / 401 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.

James 1:22 ESV / 381 helpful votes

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

2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 ESV / 341 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.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV / 327 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.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 321 helpful votes

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

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 307 helpful votes

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

Romans 12:11 ESV / 276 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:5 ESV / 262 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV / 255 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.

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 247 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV / 239 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.

Hebrews 6:12 ESV / 221 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 213 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.

Colossians 3:17 ESV / 211 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.

Ecclesiastes 10:18 ESV / 201 helpful votes

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

Luke 16:10 ESV / 189 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.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV / 188 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.

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV / 183 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 15:19 ESV / 166 helpful votes

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

Matthew 25:26-30 ESV / 164 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.’

James 2:18 ESV / 160 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.

Proverbs 10:26 ESV / 160 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 10:4-5 ESV / 146 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 6:6-11 ESV / 139 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 12:11 ESV / 138 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 19:24 ESV / 126 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV / 117 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.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 113 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.

James 1:23-25 ESV / 108 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.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 108 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 22:13 ESV / 107 helpful votes

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

John 9:4 ESV / 105 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 22:29 ESV / 103 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 / 98 helpful votes

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

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 91 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 / 90 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:13 ESV / 88 helpful votes

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

James 1:23 ESV / 86 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.

Proverbs 26:16 ESV / 85 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 26:15 ESV / 85 helpful votes

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

Colossians 3:24 ESV / 83 helpful votes

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

Jeremiah 48:10 ESV / 74 helpful votes

“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

Matthew 25:24-30 ESV / 72 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. ...

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV / 70 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 6:10-12 ESV / 69 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.

Ephesians 5:16 ESV / 69 helpful votes

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

Exodus 5:17 ESV / 69 helpful votes

But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’

Revelation 14:12 ESV / 66 helpful votes

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

Titus 2:5 ESV / 66 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 Thessalonians 4:10-12 ESV / 63 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.

Proverbs 21:17 ESV / 63 helpful votes

Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 ESV / 60 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.

Psalm 90:12 ESV / 60 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 12:20 ESV / 59 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.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 58 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,

1 Corinthians 10:7 ESV / 57 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.”

Jeremiah 15:16 ESV / 57 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.

2 Peter 3:15-16 ESV / 55 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.

Proverbs 1:1-33 ESV / 55 helpful votes

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, ...

John 7:17 ESV / 54 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.

Galatians 5:13 ESV / 53 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.

Isaiah 1:19-20 ESV / 53 helpful votes

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Proverbs 6:10-11 ESV / 53 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 24:33-34 ESV / 52 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.

Matthew 25:26 ESV / 51 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?

Isaiah 32:9-20 ESV / 51 helpful votes

Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist. Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine, for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city. ...

Proverbs 26:14-16 ESV / 50 helpful votes

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.

1 Peter 4:10 ESV / 47 helpful votes

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV / 46 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.

Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV / 46 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.

Ezra 10:4 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it.”

Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV / 45 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.

Proverbs 27:23 ESV / 45 helpful votes

Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,

Psalm 132:4-5 ESV / 42 helpful votes

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

1 Timothy 3:5 ESV / 41 helpful votes

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

Colossians 4:5 ESV / 41 helpful votes

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

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV / 41 helpful votes

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

2 Thessalonians 3:8 ESV / 39 helpful votes

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.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 39 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.

Hebrews 12:12 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,

Proverbs 25:14 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

Acts 2:45-47 ESV / 37 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.

Habakkuk 3:2 ESV / 37 helpful votes

O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

Proverbs 31:10-31 ESV / 37 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. ...

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