Thematic Bible: Business life


Thematic Bible



Moses was very angry, and he said to the Lord, "Have no respect for their offering! I have not taken so much as one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them!"

They did not audit the treasurers who disbursed the funds to the foremen, for they were honest.

They replied, "You have not wronged us or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from the hand of anyone."

The man replied to Joab, "Even if I were receiving a thousand pieces of silver, I would not strike the king's son! In our very presence the king gave this order to you and Abishai and Ittai, 'Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.'

But the prophet said to the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I could not go with you and eat and drink in this place.

But Elisha replied, "As certainly as the Lord lives (whom I serve), I will take nothing from you." Naaman insisted that he take it, but he refused.


But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we have ruined no one, we have exploited no one.





The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

"It's worthless! It's worthless!" says the buyer, but when he goes on his way, he boasts.




"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.









She obtains wool and flax, and she is pleased to work with her hands.


The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."


"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

Better to have a little with righteousness than to have abundant income without justice.


The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest gathers it for someone who is gracious to the needy.

"'See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you.




You must not do injustice in the regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you.



For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men.





You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.




You must use just balances, a just dry measure (an ephah), and a just liquid measure (a bath).


When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading.

besides what he collected from the merchants, traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land.

He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders.

"It's worthless! It's worthless!" says the buyer, but when he goes on his way, he boasts.

You may live among us, and the land will be open to you. Live in it, travel freely in it, and acquire property in it."

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.'"

"'Tarshish was your trade partner because of your abundant wealth; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.


to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.

They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the sovereign Lord.


After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe me!'


He told them, "Collect no more than you are required to."

In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.


His wife Jezebel said to him, "You are the king of Israel! Get up, eat some food, and have a good time. I will get the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you."

But Abraham lodged a complaint against Abimelech concerning a well that Abimelech's servants had seized.

the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So Isaac named the well Esek because they argued with him about it.

This was my lot for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave for you -- fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! They have taken some of the riches; they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions.

He said to his mother, "You know the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole it, but now I am giving it back to you." His mother said, "May the Lord reward you, my son!"

The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men.


My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, and have become a guarantor for a stranger, if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered, and have been caught by the words you have spoken,

The righteousness of the blameless will make straight their way, but the wicked person will fall by his own wickedness.

The one who lacks wisdom strikes hands in pledge, and puts up financial security for his neighbor.

Take a man's garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for strangers, hold him in pledge.

Do not be one who strikes hands in pledge or who puts up security for debts.

Take a man's garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for a stranger, hold him in pledge.


He took away all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac.

He retrieved all the stolen property. He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of the people.

The Israelites took the women of Midian captives along with their little ones, and took all their herds, all their flocks, and all their goods as plunder.

All their neighbors assisted them with silver utensils, gold, equipment, animals, and expensive gifts, not to mention all the voluntary offerings.

They captured fortified cities and fertile land. They took possession of houses full of all sorts of good things -- wells previously dug, vineyards, olive trees, and fruit trees in abundance. They ate until they were full and grew fat. They enjoyed to the full your great goodness.

Then someone from the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.' So he divided his assets between them.


But if the servant should declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,'

Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.

A servant who acts wisely will rule over an heir who behaves shamefully, and will share the inheritance along with the relatives.

Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the heart of his masters.

The one who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever takes care of his master will be honored.

"Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?


"If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.

I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them, "Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen!" Because of them I called for a great public assembly.

The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest gathers it for someone who is gracious to the needy.

Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you.

He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be upended.

does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing, promotes true justice between men,



But we passionately want each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of your hope until the end,









"If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it will surely pay.

He said, "Go and ask all your neighbors for empty containers. Get as many as you can.

As one of them was felling a log, the ax head dropped into the water. He shouted, "Oh no, my master! It was borrowed!"




If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord!"

A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet him. She said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants' slave girls the way a vulgar fool might do!"




If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord!"

A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death.

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

When David went home to pronounce a blessing on his own house, Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet him. She said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself this day! He has exposed himself today before his servants' slave girls the way a vulgar fool might do!"


besides what he collected from the merchants, traders, Arabian kings, and governors of the land.

When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt.

Then the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her because no one buys their cargo any longer --

The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.

Who planned this for royal Tyre, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the dignitaries of the earth?


Edom was your trade partner because of the abundance of your goods; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your products.

To those who sold the doves he said, "Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father's house a marketplace!"

cargo such as gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all sorts of things made of citron wood, all sorts of objects made of ivory, all sorts of things made of expensive wood, bronze, iron and marble,

We will not buy on the Sabbath or on a holy day from the neighboring peoples who bring their wares and all kinds of grain to sell on the Sabbath day. We will let the fields lie fallow every seventh year, and we will cancel every loan.

The people from Tyre who lived there were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah -- and in Jerusalem, of all places!


Abram said to Sarai, "Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best." Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.


Joseph's master took him and threw him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison.

and they made the Israelites serve rigorously.

David said to him, "To whom do you belong, and where are you from?" The young man said, "I am an Egyptian, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me when I was ill for three days.


Abram said to Sarai, "Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best." Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.


Joseph's master took him and threw him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison.

and they made the Israelites serve rigorously.

David said to him, "To whom do you belong, and where are you from?" The young man said, "I am an Egyptian, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me when I was ill for three days.



Instead, you must be sure to open your hand to him and generously lend him whatever he needs.

All day long he shows compassion and lends to others, and his children are blessed.




"When a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen,

Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep!

You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.

And if you haven't been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you your own?


"For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.

If you do take the garment of your neighbor in pledge, you must return it to him by the time the sun goes down,

One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security.


They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!



So Abraham secured the field and the cave that was in it as a burial site from the sons of Heth.

(Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party. This was a legally binding act in Israel.) So the guardian said to Boaz, "You may acquire it," and he removed his sandal.

Hiram then sent this message to Solomon: "I received the message you sent to me. I will give you all the cedars and evergreens you need. My servants will bring the timber down from Lebanon to the sea. I will send it by sea in raft-like bundles to the place you designate. There I will separate the logs and you can carry them away. In exchange you will supply the food I need for my royal court." So Hiram supplied the cedars and evergreens Solomon needed, read more.
and Solomon supplied Hiram annually with 20,000 cors of wheat as provision for his royal court, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.




But you yourselves wrong and cheat, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!


One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security.


Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, "Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants."


So I paid fifteen shekels of silver and about seven bushels of barley to purchase her.

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, the livestock of their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. He got them through that year by giving them food in exchange for livestock.

So Hiram supplied the cedars and evergreens Solomon needed,



You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.



You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.


Again he sent other slaves, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Look! The feast I have prepared for you is ready. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet."' But they were indifferent and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.

But Jesus said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time for the banquet he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, because everything is now ready.' But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.' read more.
Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going out to examine them. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I just got married, and I cannot come.'



He then told them a parable: "The land of a certain rich man produced an abundant crop, so he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.



Then some soldiers also asked him, "And as for us -- what should we do?" He told them, "Take money from no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your pay."


They gave money to the craftsmen and builders to buy chiseled stone and wood for the braces and rafters of the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into disrepair. The men worked faithfully. Their supervisors were Jahath and Obadiah (Levites descended from Merari), as well as Zechariah and Meshullam (descendants of Kohath). The Levites, all of whom were skilled musicians,


So I began to despair about all the fruit of my labor for which I worked so hard on earth.


The sleep of the laborer is pleasant -- whether he eats little or much -- but the wealth of the rich will not allow him to sleep.




When the king passed by, he called out to the king, "Your servant went out into the heat of the battle, and then a man turned aside and brought me a prisoner. He told me, 'Guard this prisoner. If he ends up missing for any reason, you will pay with your life or with a talent of silver.' Well, it just so happened that while your servant was doing this and that, he disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "Your punishment is already determined by your own testimony."


As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents was brought to him. Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made.


Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching -- like those who are strictly people-pleasers -- but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.


"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.




Brothers and sisters, I offer an example from everyday life: When a covenant has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it.


I gave instructions that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues.


Those who are under the yoke as slaves must regard their own masters as deserving of full respect. This will prevent the name of God and Christian teaching from being discredited.






They did not audit the treasurers who disbursed the funds to the foremen, for they were honest.


Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse.


"If I have disregarded the right of my male servants or my female servants when they disputed with me, then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him?


So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care; he gave no thought to anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well built and good-looking.


There were others who said, "We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine."




So he contacted his master's debtors one by one. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' The man replied, 'A hundred measures of olive oil.' The manager said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.'


She went and told the prophet. He said, "Go, sell the olive oil. Repay your creditor, and then you and your sons can live off the rest of the profit."




Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away."


Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption.


Slaves are to be subject to their own masters in everything, to do what is wanted and not talk back,




and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade).


Jeroboam was a talented man; when Solomon saw that the young man was an accomplished worker, he made him the leader of the work crew from the tribe of Joseph.


So she gathered grain in the field until evening. When she threshed what she had gathered, it came to about thirty pounds of barley!




NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible