15 Bible Verses about Hard Labor

Do you not know that they who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain the prize. Every man taking part in the contest is temperate in all things. They do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we do it to receive an incorruptible crown. I do not run without definite aim (purpose) and I do not fight like a man beating the air.read more.
But I discipline my body, and bring it into subjection, so that after I have preached to others I will not be disqualified.

You have not yet resisted by shedding blood in your striving against sin.

I wish to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect. But I press on, that I may obtain that for which Christ Jesus also obtained. Brothers, I could not yet have obtained it. But one thing I do, I forget the things that are behind, and stretch forward to the things that are ahead.read more.
I press on toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was not able to sleep. I have been in your house twenty years! I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters. I kept your flock for six years. You changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, out of respect for Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my misery and hard work. Last night he made it right!

So the Egyptians put slave masters over them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply (storage) cities for Pharaoh. However the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased in number and spread out. The Egyptians could not stand them any longer. They forced the Israelites to work hard as slaves.read more.
They made their lives bitter with backbreaking work in mortar and bricks and every kind of work in the fields. All the jobs the Egyptians gave them were brutally hard work.

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, They resorted to a ruse (scheme) (trick). They acted as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, worn out, torn, and mended. They had worn out and patched shoes on their feet, they wore old garments; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.read more.
They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel: We come from a distant country, make a treaty with us. The men of Israel said to the Hivites: Perhaps you live near us. How can we make a treaty with you? They said: We are your servants. Joshua said to them: Who are you? Where do you come from? They said: From a very far country, your servants came because of the name of Jehovah your God, for we have heard about him and all he did in Egypt; and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying: 'Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them: We are your servants. Therefore make a treaty with us.' We took hot fresh bread for our provision out of our houses on the day we came to you. Now it is dry, and it is moldy: These bottles of wine, which we filled, were new and now they are cracked. Our garments and shoes have become old by reason of the very long journey. The men sampled their provisions but did not ask for counsel from Jehovah. Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live. The leaders of the congregation ratified it by an oath. At the end of three days after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. The children of Israel journeyed to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. The children of Israel did not kill them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Jehovah God of Israel. The entire congregation murmured against the princes. But all the leaders said to the entire congregation: We have sworn to them by Jehovah the God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them. We will even let them live in case we become angry. This is because of the oath we swore to them. The leaders said to them: Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water to the entire congregation as the leaders had promised them. Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying: Why did you deceive us, saying: 'We are very far from you' when you dwell among us? Now you are cursed, and none of you will be freed from being slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. They answered Joshua: For the reason that it was absolutely told to your servants, how Jehovah your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and destroy all the inhabitants of the land. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you. So we did this thing. Now we are in your hands. Do to us what seems good and right to you. Joshua saved them from the children of Israel. They did not kill them. Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, even to this day, in the place he should choose.

She shouted: Samson! The Philistines are coming! He woke up and thought: I will get loose and go free, as always. He did not know that Jehovah had left him. The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with copper chains. They put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison.

The sleep of the workingman is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. However the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.

Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel. This is because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage. I have remembered my covenant.

King Solomon used forced labor to build the Temple and the palace, to fill in land on the east side of the city, and to build the city wall. He also used it to rebuild the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

In all labor there is profit: but idle chatter leads only to destitution.

He said to Adam: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with copper chains. They put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison.

The young men crushed the grain, and the boys fell under the wood.