Idleness

General Scriptures Concerning

• Proverbs 6:6–11 Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise. …
• Proverbs 10:4–5 Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. …
• Proverbs 10:26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slacker to those who send him.
• Proverbs 12:9 Better to be lightly esteemed yet have a servant, than to be self-important but lack food.
• Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
• Proverbs 12:27 A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.
• Proverbs 13:4 The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
• Proverbs 14:23 There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
• Proverbs 15:19 The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
• Proverbs 18:9 Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.
• Proverbs 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
• Proverbs 19:24 The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth.
• Proverbs 20:4 The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.
• Proverbs 20:13 Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.
• Proverbs 21:25–26 The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work. …
• Proverbs 22:13 The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”
• Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
• Proverbs 24:30–34 I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment. …
• Proverbs 26:13–16 The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!” …
• Ecclesiastes 4:5 The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
• Ecclesiastes 10:18 Through laziness the roof caves in, and in the hands of the idle, the house leaks.
• Isaiah 56:10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
• Ezekiel 16:49 Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.
• Matthew 20:6–7 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. …
• Luke 19:20–25 Then another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have laid away in a piece of cloth. …
• Acts 17:21 Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.
• 2 Thessalonians 3:10–11 For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” …
• 1 Timothy 5:13 At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention.