19 Bible Verses about Work, As Ordained By God

so that you may live influentially with the outsiders, and not be dependent on anybody.

The man who used to steal must now stop stealing; rather, he must keep on working and toiling with his own hands at some honest vocation, so as to have something to contribute to the needy.

You remember, brothers, our hard labor and toil. We kept up our habit of working night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you when we preached to you.

Whoever fails to provide for his own relatives, and especially for those of his immediate family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

And whatever you say or do, let it all be done with reference to the Lord Jesus, and through Him continue to give thanks to God the Father.

So if you eat or drink or do anything else, do everything to honor God.

You slaves must practice obedience to your earthly masters, with reverence and awe, with sincerity of heart, as you would obey Christ, not serving them as though they were watching you, but as true slaves of Christ, trying to carry out the will of God. Heartily and cheerfully keep on working as slaves, as though it were for the Lord and not for men,read more.
for you know that everyone, slave or free, will get his reward from the Lord for anything good he has done.

Slaves, practice obedience to your earthly masters in everything, not as though they were watching you and as though you were merely pleasing men, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord. Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as work for the Lord and not for men, for you know that it is from the Lord that you are going to get your pay in the form of an inheritance; so keep on serving Christ the Lord.

Our people too must set examples of doing good, so as to meet the necessary demands and not to live unfruitful lives.

also keep up your ambition to live quietly, to practice attending to your own business and to work with your own hands, as we directed you,

You know yourselves how you ought to follow my example; for I was not a shirker when I was with you; I did not eat any man's bread without paying for it, but with toil and hard labor I worked night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you. Not that I have no right to be supported, but to make myself an example for you to follow.read more.
For when I was with you, I gave you this direction, "If a person refuses to work, he must not be allowed to eat." But we are informed that some among you are living as shirkers, mere busybodies, instead of busy at work. Now on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ we charge and exhort such persons to do their own work with quiet and eat their own bread.

Is He not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother's name Mary, are not His brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?

Is He not the carpenter, Mary's son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And do not His sisters live here among us?" And so they found a cause for stumbling over him.

for this is the reason why you pay your taxes, for the civil authorities are God's official servants faithfully devoting themselves to this very end.

Only, everybody must continue to live in the station which the Lord assigned to him, in that in which God called him. These are my orders in all the churches.

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as work for the Lord and not for men, for you know that it is from the Lord that you are going to get your pay in the form of an inheritance; so keep on serving Christ the Lord.

"For it is just like a man who was going on a long journey from his homeland, who called to him his slaves and turned his property over to them. He gave one five thousand dollars, another two thousand, another one thousand, to each in accordance with his ability. Then he started on his long journey. The man who had received the five thousand dollars at once went out and invested it, and made five thousand more.read more.
In the same way the man who had received the two thousand made two thousand more. But the man who had received the one thousand went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master's money. After a long time the master of those slaves came back and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five thousand dollars came up and brought him five thousand more, saying, 'You turned over to me five thousand dollars; here are five thousand more I made.' His master said to him 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' Then the man who had received the two thousand came up and said, 'Master, you turned over to me two thousand dollars; here are two thousand more I made.' His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful slave, you have been faithful in the use of a small amount; I will put you in charge of a larger one. Come, share your master's joy!' Then the man who had received the one thousand came up and said, 'Master, I knew you were a hard man, who reaped where you had not sown, who gathered where you had not threshed. So I was afraid, and went off and buried your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money.' His master answered him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not threshed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when I came back I could have collected my principal with interest. So take the thousand dollars away from him and give it to him who has ten thousand. For the man who has will have more given to him, even till it overflows, but from the man who has nothing even what he has will be taken away. And throw the good-for-nothing slave out into the darkness on the outside, where he will weep and grind his teeth.'

So He said: "Once upon a time a man of noble birth went off to a distant country to get for himself a kingdom and then return. He called in ten of his slaves and gave them twenty dollars apiece and told them to do business with his money while he was gone. But his citizens continued to hate him, and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We do not want this man to become king over us.'read more.
Then after he had gotten the appointment as king, he returned and ordered those slaves to whom he had given his money to be called in, that he might find out what business they had done. Now the first one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made two hundred more.' So he said to him, 'Well done, my good slave! Because you have proven dependable in a very small business, be governor of ten cities!' The second one came in and said, 'Your twenty dollars, sir, has made a hundred!' So he said to him too, 'Be governor of five cities? But another one came in and said, 'Here is your twenty dollars, sir, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief. For I lived in constant dread of you, because you are a stern man, you pick up what you did not put down, you reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'On the ground of what you say I will sentence you, you wicked slave! You knew that I was a stern man, that I picked up what I did not put down, and reaped what I did not sow. So why did you not put my money into the bank? In that case, when I came back I could have gotten interest on my principal.' So he said to the bystanders, 'Take the twenty dollars away from him and give it to the man who has the two hundred.' And they said, 'Sir, he has two hundred already.' 'I tell you, the man who gets will have more given to him, but the man who does not get will have even what he has taken away from him! But bring those enemies of mine here who did not want me to become king over them and slay them in my presence!'"

For when I was with you, I gave you this direction, "If a person refuses to work, he must not be allowed to eat." But we are informed that some among you are living as shirkers, mere busybodies, instead of busy at work.