17 Bible Verses about People Who Delayed

But Rebekah’s brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us a few days—at least ten; then she may go.”

For if we had not delayed like this, surely by now we would have returned the second time.”

Hurry and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says this to you: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.

On the fourth day they got up early in the morning, and the Levite prepared to leave; but the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, “Strengthen yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward go your way.”

So both men sat down and ate and drank together; and the girl’s father said to the man, “Please be willing to spend the night and enjoy yourself.”

Then the man got up to leave, but his father-in-law urged him [strongly to remain]; so he spent the night there again.

On the fifth day he got up early in the morning to leave, but the girl’s father said, “Please strengthen yourself, and wait until the end of the day.” So both of them ate.

Then King David sent word to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house [in Jerusalem], since the word of all Israel has come to the king, and to his house?

You are my brothers (relatives, relations); you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’

But Lot hesitated and lingered. The men took hold of his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was merciful to him [for Abraham’s sake]; and they brought him out, and left him outside the city [with his family].

The king replied, “I know for certain that you are bargaining for time, because you have seen that my command [to you] is firm and irrevocable.

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

“Out of the window she looked down and lamented (cried out in a shrill voice),
The mother of Sisera through the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot delayed in coming?
Why have the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?’

So Amasa went to summon [the fighting men of] Judah, but he delayed longer than the time which David had set for him.

The people [outside in the court] were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering about his long delay in the temple.

So [even] when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed in the same place two more days.

But Felix, having a rather accurate understanding about the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”