85 Bible Verses about Occupations

Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain that build it; unless the LORD keeps the city, the watchmen watch in vain.

The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.

Jesus said unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

And have ye not read this scripture: The stone which the builders rejected is placed as the head of the corner;

But he beheld them and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each one see how the building is built. For no one can lay another foundation than that laid, which is Jesus the Christ. Now if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,read more.
the work of each one shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire; the work of each one, whatever sort it is, the fire shall put it to test. If the work of anyone abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honour than the house.

Unto you, therefore, who believe he is precious; but unto those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a master workman, an engineer, and an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet and fine linen.

And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue,

Jod She laid her hands to the spindle, and her hands held the distaff.

and to the masons and hewers of stone and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the LORD and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

and let them deliver it into the hands of those that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to those that do the work in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house;

Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, raised their voices with cymbals of brass; and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth. And Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obededom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel.read more.
And Chenaniah, prince of the Levites in prophecy, for he presided in prophecy, because he had understanding.

And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals to sound, and with other musical instruments of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were porters.

The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and upon my high places he will cause me to walk victorious in my instruments of music.

And it came to pass that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.

he lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side; he shall tell thee what it behooves thee to do.

The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah: Er, the father of Lecah, and Laadah, the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of those that wrought fine linen, of the house of Ashbea,

Then the LORD said unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the washer's field

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the washer's field.

And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he camped by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the washer's field.

The smith shall take the tongs; he shall work among the coals; he shall give it form with the hammers and bring forth in it the arm of his strength; though he is hungry and his strength fails: he shall not drink water, even if he faints.

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, Lest peradventure the Hebrews make swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen each man his share and his coulter and his axe and his mattock and when they had nicks in the mattocks and the coulters and the forks and the axes, or to fix a goad.

Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth the instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

After him, Malchiah, the son of the refiner, restored unto the place of the Nethinims and of the merchants, over against the gate of judgment and to the going up of the corner. And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate, the refiners and the merchants restored.

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides what he had from the merchantmen and from the trade of the spice merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and from the princes of the land.

And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. And they went up and brought forth out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for one hundred and fifty; and so they brought out horses for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Syria, by their hands.

And it came to pass, that when shadow came to the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be opened until after the sabbath; and I set some of my servants at the gates, that no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified and protested against them and said unto them, Why do ye lodge about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the sabbath.

He is a merchant who has the balances of deceit in his hand; he loves to oppress.

Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla (for Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and worked, for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high esteem because by him the LORD had given salvation unto Syria; he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

And when Jesus was entering into Capernaum, a centurion came unto him, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him.read more.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled and said to those that followed, Verily I say unto you that not even in Israel have I found such faith. But I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens. But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then Jesus said unto the centurion, Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in that same hour.

Now when he had ended all his words in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's slave, who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and free his slave.read more.
And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he is worthy that this should be done for him, for he loves our nation and he has built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou should enter under my roof; therefore neither did I think myself worthy to come unto thee but say the word, and my slave shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say unto one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him and turned about and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you that not even in Israel have I found such great faith. And those that had been sent, returning to the house, found the slave that had been sick whole.

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Oppress no one, neither accuse anyone falsely; and be content with your wages.

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the company called the Italian, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, who gave many alms to the people and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him and saying unto him, Cornelius.read more.
And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; he lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side; he shall tell thee what it behooves thee to do. And when the angel who spoke unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those that waited on him continually; and when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.

Thou, therefore, work hard as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier.

And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On gave birth unto him.

Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the most high God.

When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done with Moses and with Israel his people and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt,

And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the Spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may be my priest.

And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments and anoint him and sanctify him, that he may be my priest.

And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my priest.

And a man of God came unto Eli and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I not plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh? And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me, and I gave unto the house of thy father all the offerings on fire of the sons of Israel. Why do ye trample my sacrifices and my offerings which I have commanded to be offered in my tabernacle and honor thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

And these were the princes which he had: Azariah, the son of Zadok, the priest, Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes, Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, writer of the chronicles; Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests;read more.
Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over the officers; and Zabud, the son of Nathan, was the priest and special companion of the king;

For the priest's lips keep wisdom, and they seek the law at his mouth; for he is an angel of the LORD of the hosts.

Then Jesus said unto him, See thou tell no one; but go, show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

But thou shalt place the Levites in the tabernacle of the testimony and over all the vessels thereof and over all things that belong to it; they shall bear the tabernacle and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister in it and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle departs, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.

And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint of their brethren as singers with instruments of music, with psalteries and harps and cymbals sounding, and to lift up their voice with joy.

And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD and to record and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

So the priests and the Levites and those of the people and the singers and the porters and the Nethinims dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

And at that time men were appointed over the chambers of the treasures, of the offerings, of the firstfruits, and of the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the legal portions for the priests and the Levites; for the joy of Judah was upon the priests and the Levites that served. And they kept the ward of their God and the ward of the purification, and the singers and the porters, according to the statute of David and of Solomon, his son. For from the time of David and Asaph of old there were princes of the singers, and songs and praise and thanksgiving unto God.read more.
And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, each thing in its day; and they sanctified them unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the sons of Aaron.

And likewise a Levite, when he came near the place and looked on him, he passed by on the other side.

And David sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, he brings good news. And while he kept on drawing near, the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called unto the porter and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.read more.
And the watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man and comes with good tidings.

The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of this night? Watchman, what of this night? The watchman said, The morning comes and then the night; if ye will enquire, enquire ye; return, and come.

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs; they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, they love to slumber.

Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring a sword upon the land and the people of the land take a man from within their borders and set him up as a watchman; and he should see the sword coming upon the land, if he should blow the shofar, and warn the people, then whoever hears the sound of the shofar and does not take warning; and the coming of the sword should take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.read more.
He heard the sound of the shofar and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman should see the sword coming and not blow the shofar and the people not be warned, if the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away because of his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy slaves are pastors of sheep, both we and also our fathers.

Then Jacob walked on and came into the land of the people of the east. And he looked and saw a well in the field, and, behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And all the flocks gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well's mouth and water the sheep and put the stone again upon the well's mouth in its place.read more.
And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, where are you from? And they said, We are from Haran. And he said unto them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and, behold, Rachel, his daughter, comes with the sheep. And he said, behold, it is yet high day; neither is it time that the livestock should be gathered together; water the sheep and go and feed them. And they said, We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and until they roll the stone from the well's mouth, that we may water the sheep. And while he yet spoke with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was the pastor. And it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his father's house, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; and the men are pastors of sheep, for their trade has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their sheep and their cows and all that they have. And it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say, What is your occupation?read more.
Then ye shall say, Thy slaves' trade has been about livestock from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every pastor of sheep is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came and drew water to fill the troughs to water their father's sheep. But the pastors came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up and defended them and watered their sheep.

And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went with his burden as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth in battle array, and they had already sounded the alarm for the battle.

Now a certain man of the slaves of Saul was there that day, fulfilling a vow before the LORD, and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the principal of the pastors of Saul.

The words of Amos, who was among the pastors of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the clarity of the Lord shone round about them, and they feared greatly. But the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you a gospel of great joy, which shall be to all the people.read more.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will in man. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord has made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad that which had been told them concerning this child. And all those that heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

And it shall come to pass in that time, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman of the land; for I learned this from man from my youth.

Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground? When he has levelled the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cummin and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place?

Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things.

Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is lost.

And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some of the seed fell beside the way, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth;read more.
and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But some fell into good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold and another sixtyfold and another thirtyfold. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Hearken; Behold, the sower went out to sow; and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth;read more.
but when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth: some thirty and some sixty and some a hundred.

A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the way, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon the rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.read more.
And some fell on good ground and sprang up and bore fruit a hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Hear another parable: There was a certain husband of a house who planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country,

And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and dug a place for the winefat and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went far away.

And he began to speak this parable to the people: A certain man planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country for a long time.

The husbandman, in order to receive the fruits, must first work hard.

Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently until it receives the early and latter rain.

which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

The fishermen also shall mourn, and all those that cast fishhooks into the river shall lament, and those that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.