15 Bible Verses about Hard Labor

Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes exercises self-control in all [things]. Thus those [do so] in order that they may receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable [one]. Therefore I run in this way, not as [running] aimlessly; I box in this way, not as beating the air.read more.
But I discipline my body and subjugate [it], lest somehow [after] preaching to others, myself should become disqualified.

You have not yet resisted to the point of [shedding your] blood [as you] struggle against sin.

if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already received [this], or [have] already been made perfect, but I press on if indeed I may lay hold of [that] for which also I was laid hold of by Christ. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have laid hold of [it]. But [I do] one [thing], forgetting the things behind and straining toward the things ahead,read more.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

[There] I was, during the day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years [I have been] in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac had not been with me, indeed now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my misery and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night."

And they appointed commanders of forced labor over them in order to oppress them with their {forced labor}, and they built storage cities for Pharaoh--Pithom and Rameses. And as he oppressed them, so they became many, and so they spread out, and [the Egyptians] were afraid because of the presence of the {Israelites}. And the Egyptians ruthlessly compelled the {Israelites} to work.read more.
And they made their lives bitter with hard work with mortar and with bricks and with all [sorts] of work in the field--with all their work in which they ruthlessly enslaved them.

But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, and they acted on their part with cunning: they went and prepared provisions, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys and old wineskins [that were] torn and mended. The sandals on their feet [were] patched and old, their clothes [were] old, and their food was dry and crumbled.read more.
And they went to Joshua at the camp [at] Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far land; so then {make a covenant with us}." And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you [are] living among us; how can we {make a covenant} with you?" They said to Joshua, "We [are] your servants." And Joshua said to them, "Who [are] you, and from where do you come?" And they said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far land because of the name of Yahweh your God; we have heard of his reputation, of all that he did in Egypt, and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan--to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who [was] in Ashtaroth. So our elders said to us and all the inhabitants of our land, 'Take in your hand provisions for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, "We [are] your servants; so then {make a covenant with us}." ' This [is] our bread; [it was] hot [when] we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and crumbled. These [are] the wineskins that we filled new, but look, they have burst; and these [are] our clothes and sandals that have worn out from the very long journey." So the leaders took from their provisions, but {they did not ask direction from Yahweh}. And Joshua made peace with them, and {he made a covenant with them} to allow them to live happily, and the leaders of the congregation swore [an oath] to them. And it happened that at the end of three days, after they made a covenant with them, they heard that {they were their neighbors} and living among them. And the {Israelites} set out and went to their cities on the third day (their cities [were] Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim). But the {Israelites} did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured {against their leaders}. But all the leaders of the congregation said, "We have sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them. This we will do to them: [we will] let them live so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath we swore to them." And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them. And Joshua summoned them and said, "Why have you deceived us saying, 'We [are] very far from you' when you [are] living among us? Therefore you [are] cursed; some of you will always be slaves as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." And they answered Joshua and said, "Because it was told with certainty to your servants that Yahweh your God commanded Moses his servant to give to you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, so we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and so we did this thing. So then, look, we [are] in your hand; do with us whatever seems good and right in your eyes." So he did this to them: he saved them from the hand of the {Israelites}, and they did not kill them. And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

And she said to him, "[The] Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!" And he woke up from his sleep and said, "I will go out just like every other time and shake myself free," but he did not know that Yahweh had left him. And [the] Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. They tied him up with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder {in the prison}.

The sleep of the laborer [is] pleasant, whether he eats little or much, but the wealth of the rich man does not allow him to rest.

Whatever your hand finds to do--do [it] with [all] your might; for in Sheol--where you are going--no one works, plans, knows, or thinks about anything.

but also I myself heard the groaning of the {Israelites}, whom [the] Egyptians [are] making to work, and I remembered my covenant.

This [is] the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of Yahweh and his house, the Millo, the walls of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

In all toil, there is profit, but the {talk} of lips [leads] only to poverty.

And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree {from which I forbade you to eat}, the ground [shall be] cursed on your account. In pain you shall eat [from] it all the days of your life.

And [the] Philistines seized him, gouged his eyes, and brought him to Gaza. They tied him up with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder {in the prison}.

Young men must carry a hand-mill and boys stumble under the wood.