85 Bible Verses about Occupations

If the Lord is not helping the builders, then the building of a house is to no purpose: if the Lord does not keep the town, the watchman keeps his watch for nothing.

The stone which the builders put on one side has become the chief stone of the building.

Jesus says to them, Did you never see in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes?

Have you not seen this which is in the Writings: The stone which the builders put on one side, the same was made the chief stone of the building:

But he, looking on them, said, Is it not in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has become the chief stone of the building?

He is the stone which you builders had no use for, but which has been made the chief stone of the building.

In the measure of the grace given to me, I, as a wise master-builder, have put the base in position, and another goes on building on it. But let every man take care what he puts on it. For there is no other base for the building but that which has been put down, which is Jesus Christ. But on the base a man may put gold, silver, stones of great price, wood, dry grass, cut stems;read more.
Every man's work will be made clear in that day, because it will be tested by fire; and the fire itself will make clear the quality of every man's work. If any man's work comes through the test, he will have a reward. If the fire puts an end to any man's work, it will be his loss: but he will get salvation himself, though as by fire.

And it was right for this man to have more honour than Moses, even as the builder of a house has more honour than the house.

And the value is for you who have faith; but it is said for those without faith, The very stone which the builders put on one side, was made the chief stone of the building;

And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; a designer and a trained workman, expert in needlework of blue and purple and red and the best linen.

The robe which went with the ephod was made all of blue;

She puts her hands to the cloth-working rod, and her fingers take the wheel.

And to the wall-builders and the stone-cutters, and to get wood and cut stone for building up the broken parts of the house of the Lord, and for everything needed to put the house in good order.

And let it be given to the overseers of the work of the Lord's house, to give to the workmen who are making good what was damaged in the house of the Lord; To the woodworkers and the builders and the stone-cutters; and for getting wood and cut stones for the building up of the house.

Is not this the woodworker's son? is not his mother named Mary? and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

So those who made melody, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were put in position, with brass instruments, sounding loudly; And Zechariah and Aziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel, Unni and Eliab and Maaseiah and Benaiah, with corded instruments put to Alamoth. And Mattithiah and Eliphelehu and Mikneiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel and Azaziah, with corded instruments on the octave, to give the first note of the song.read more.
And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was master of the music: he gave directions about the song, because he was expert.

And Heman and Jeduthun had horns and brass instruments sounding loudly, and instruments of music for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun were to be at the door.

The Lord God is my strength, and he makes my feet like roes' feet, guiding me on my high places. For the chief music-maker on corded instruments.

And he was living in Joppa for some time with Simon, a leather-worker.

Who is living with Simon, a leather-worker, whose house is by the sea.

The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah: Er, the father of Lecah, and Laadah, the father of Mareshah, and the families of those who made delicate linen, of the family of Ashbea;

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out now, you and Shear-jashub, your son, and you will come across Ahaz at the end of the stream flowing from the higher pool, in the highway of the washerman's field;

Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan and the Rab-saris and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a strong force. And they went up and came to Jerusalem, and took up their position by the stream of the higher pool, by the highway of the washerman's field.

And the king of Assyria sent the Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a strong force, and he took up his position by the stream of the higher pool, by the highway of the washerman's

The iron-worker is heating the metal in the fire, giving it form with his hammers, and working on it with his strong arm: then for need of food his strength gives way, and for need of water he becomes feeble.

Now there was no iron-worker in all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, For fear the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears: But all the Israelites had to go to the Philistines to get their ploughs and blades and axes and hooks made sharp; For they had instruments for putting an edge on their ploughs and blades and forks and axes, and for putting iron points on their ox-driving rods.

See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction.

After him Malchijah, one of the gold-workers to the Nethinim and the traders, made good the wall opposite the doorway of Hammiphkad and as far as the way up to the angle. And between the way up to the angle and the sheep door, the gold-workers and the traders made good the wall.

Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents; In addition to what came to him from the business of the traders, and from all the kings of the Arabians, and from the rulers of the country.

And Solomon's horses came out of Egypt; the king's traders got them from Kue at a price. A war-carriage might be got from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: they got them at the same rate for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

And so, when the streets of Jerusalem were getting dark before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the doors to be shut and not to be open again till after the Sabbath: and I put some of my servants by the door so that nothing might be taken in on the Sabbath day. So the traders in all sorts of goods took their night's rest outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I gave witness against them and said, Why are you waiting all night by the wall? if you do so again I will have you taken prisoners. From that time they did not come again on the Sabbath.

As for Canaan, the scales of deceit are in his hands; he takes pleasure in twisted ways.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader searching for beautiful jewels. And having come across one jewel of great price, he went and gave all he had in exchange for it.

After these things, he went away from Athens, and came to Corinth. And there he came across a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who not long before had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had given orders that all Jews were to go away from Rome: and he came to them; And because he was of the same trade, he was living with them, and they did their work together; for by trade they were tent-makers.

Now Naaman, chief of the army of the king of Aram, was a man of high position with his master, and greatly respected, because by him the Lord had given salvation to Aram; but he was a leper.

And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain captain came to him with a request, Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain. And he said to him, I will come and make him well.read more.
And the captain in answer said, Lord, I am not good enough for you to come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be made well. Because I myself am a man under authority, having under me fighting men; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. And when these words came to the ears of Jesus he was surprised, and said to those who came after him, Truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain. And Jesus said to the captain, Go in peace; as your faith is, so let it be done to you. And the servant was made well in that hour.

After he had come to the end of all his words in the hearing of the people, he went into Capernaum. And a certain captain had a servant who was very dear to him; this servant was ill and near to death. And when news of Jesus came to his ears, he sent to him rulers of the Jews, requesting that he would come and make his servant well.read more.
And they, when they came to Jesus, made their request warmly, saying, It is right for you to do this for him, because he is a friend to our nation, and himself has put up a Synagogue for us. And Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, the man sent friends to him, saying, Lord, do not give yourself trouble: for I am not important enough for you to come into my house: And I had the feeling that I was not even good enough to come to you: but say the word only, and my servant will be well. For I, myself, am a man under authority, having men under me; and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. And when these things were said to Jesus, he was surprised, and, turning to the mass of people coming after him, said, I have not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel. And when those who were sent came back to the house they saw that the servant was well.

And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you.

Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, named Cornelius, the captain of the Italian band of the army; A serious-minded man, fearing God with all his family; he gave much money to the poor, and made prayer to God at all times. He saw in a vision, clearly, at about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of the Lord coming to him and saying to him, Cornelius!read more.
And he, looking on him in fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your offerings have come up to God, and he has kept them in mind. Now send men to Joppa, and get one Simon, named Peter, Who is living with Simon, a leather-worker, whose house is by the sea. And when the angel who said these words to him had gone away, he sent for two of his house-servants, and a God-fearing man of the army, one of those who were waiting on him at all times; And having given them an account of everything, he sent them to Joppa.

Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus. A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army.

And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God, took bread and wine,

Now news came to Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, of all God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and how the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.

Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest.

You are to put on Aaron the holy robes; and you are to put oil on him, and make him holy, so that he may be my priest.

And Micah gave the position to the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, Now I am certain that the Lord will do me good, seeing that the Levite has become my priest.

And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, The Lord says, Did I let myself be seen by your father's people when they were in Egypt, servants in Pharaoh's house? Did I take him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest and to go up to my altar to make the smoke of the offerings go up and to take up the ephod? Did I give to your father's family all the offerings made by fire by the children of Israel? Why then are you looking with envy on my offerings of meat and of meal which were ordered by my word, honouring your sons before me, and making yourselves fat with all the best of the offerings of Israel, my people?

And these were his chief men: Azariah, the son of Zadok, was the priest; Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were scribes; Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the recorder; Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was head of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;read more.
Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over those in authority in the different divisions of the country; Zabud, the son of Nathan, was priest and the king's friend;

For it is right for the priest's lips to keep knowledge, and for men to be waiting for the law from his mouth: for he is the servant sent from the Lord of armies.

And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing about this to anyone; but go and let the priest see you and make the offering which was ordered by Moses, for a witness to them.

But to them you are to give the care of the Tent of meeting with its vessels and everything in it: they are to take up the Tent, and be responsible for everything to do with it, and put up their tents round it. And when the Tent of meeting goes forward, the Levites are to take it down; and when it is to be put up, they are to do it: any strange person who comes near it is to be put to death.

And David gave orders to the chief of the Levites to put their brothers the music-makers in position, with instruments of music, corded instruments and brass, with glad voices making sounds of joy.

And he put some of the Levites before the ark of the Lord as servants, to keep the acts of the Lord in memory, and to give worship and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel:

So the priests and the Levites and the people and the music-makers and the door-keepers and the Nethinim, took up their places in their towns; even all Israel in their towns.

And on that day certain men were put over the rooms where the things which had been given were stored, for the lifted offerings and the first-fruits and the tenths, and to take into them the amounts, from the fields of every town, fixed by the law for the priests and the Levites: for Judah was glad on account of the priests and the Levites who were in their places. And they kept the watch of their God, and were responsible for making things clean, and so did the music-makers and the door-keepers, as it was ordered by David and Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph in the past, there was a master of the music, and songs of blessing and praise to God.read more.
And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave what was needed by the music-makers and the door-keepers day by day: and they made the offerings holy for the Levites; and the Levites did the same for the sons of Aaron.

And in the same way, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, went by on the other side.

Now David was seated between the two town doors; and the watchman went up to the roof of the doorways, on the wall, and, lifting up his eyes, saw a man running by himself. And the watchman gave news of it to the king. And the king said, If he is coming by himself, then he has news. And the man was travelling quickly, and came near. Then the watchman saw another man running: and crying out in the direction of the door he said, Here is another man running by himself. And the king said, He, like the other, comes with news.read more.
And the watchman said, It seems to me that the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and his news will be good.

The word about Edom. A voice comes to me from Seir, Watchman, how far gone is the night? how far gone is the night? The watchman says, The morning has come, but night is still to come: if you have questions to put, put them, and come back again.

His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep.

Son of man, give a word to the children of your people, and say to them, When I make the sword come on a land, if the people of the land take a man from among their number and make him their watchman: If, when he sees the sword coming on the land, by sounding the horn he gives the people news of their danger; Then anyone who, hearing the sound of the horn, does not take note of it, will himself be responsible for his death, if the sword comes and takes him away.read more.
On hearing the sound of the horn, he did not take note; his blood will be on him; for if he had taken note his life would have been safe. But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not give a note on the horn, and the people have no word of the danger, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them; he will be taken away in his sin, but I will make the watchman responsible for his blood.

Truly I say to you, He who does not go through the door into the place where the sheep are kept, but gets in by some other way, is a thief and an outlaw. He who goes in by the door is the keeper of the sheep. The porter lets him in; and the sheep give ear to his voice; he says over the names of the sheep, and takes them out.

And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us.

Then Jacob went on his journey till he came to the land of the children of the East. And there he saw a water-hole in a field, and by the side of it three flocks of sheep, for there they got water for the sheep: and on the mouth of the water-hole there was a great stone. And all the flocks would come together there, and when the stone had been rolled away, they would give the sheep water, and put the stone back again in its place on the mouth of the water-hole.read more.
Then Jacob said to the herdmen, My brothers, where do you come from? And they said, From Haran. And he said to them, Have you any knowledge of Laban, the son of Nahor? And they said, We have. And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well, and here is Rachel his daughter coming with the sheep. Then Jacob said, The sun is still high and it is not time to get the cattle together: get water for the sheep and go and give them their food. And they said, We are not able to do so till all the flocks have come together and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the water-hole; then we will get water for the sheep. While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she took care of them. Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me; And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have. Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business?read more.
You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock. And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them.

And David got up early in the morning, and, giving the sheep into the care of a keeper, took the things and went as Jesse had said; and he came to the lines where the carts were, when the army was going out to the fight giving their war-cry.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, kept back before the Lord; his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the strongest of Saul's runners.

The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa; what he saw about Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earth-shock.

And in the same country there were keepers of sheep in the fields, watching over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was shining round about them: and fear came on them. And the angel said, Have no fear; for truly, I give you good news of great joy which will be for all the people:read more.
For on this day, in the town of David, a Saviour has come to birth, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign to you: you will see a young child folded in linen, in the place where the cattle have their food. And suddenly there was with the angel a great band of spirits from heaven, giving praise to God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth peace among men with whom he is well pleased. And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the keepers of the sheep said to one another, Let us go now to Beth-lehem, and see this thing which has come about, which the Lord has made clear to us. And they came quickly, and saw Mary and Joseph, and the child in the place where the cattle had their food. And when they saw it, they gave them an account of the things which had been said to them about the child. And all those to whose ears it came were full of wonder at the things said by the keepers of the sheep.

He who goes in by the door is the keeper of the sheep. The porter lets him in; and the sheep give ear to his voice; he says over the names of the sheep, and takes them out. When he has got them all out, he goes before them, and the sheep go after him, for they have knowledge of his voice.

And it will come about in that day that the prophets will be shamed, every man on account of his vision, when he is talking as a prophet; and they will not put on a robe of hair for purposes of deceit: But he will say, I am no prophet, but a worker on the land; for I have been an owner of land from the time when I was young.

Is the ploughman for ever ploughing? does he not get the earth ready and broken up for the seed? When the face of the earth has been levelled, does he not put in the different sorts of seed, and the grain in lines, and the barley in its place, and the spelt at the edge?

Again will your vine-gardens be planted on the hill of Samaria: the planters will be planting and using the fruit.

The farmers are shamed, the workers in the vine-gardens give cries of grief, for the wheat and the barley; for the produce of the fields has come to destruction.

And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth; And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food: And some of the seed went among the stones, where it had not much earth, and straight away it came up because the earth was not deep:read more.
And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root it became dry and dead. And some seeds went among thorns, and the thorns came up and they had no room for growth: And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much. He who has ears, let him give ear.

A man went out to put seed in the earth: And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food. And some went on the stones, where it had not much earth; and it came up straight away, because the earth was not deep:read more.
And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root, it became dry and dead. And some went among the thorns, and the thorns came up, and it had no room for growth and gave no fruit. And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.

A man went out to put in seed, and while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside and it was crushed under foot, and was taken by the birds of heaven. And some went on the rock, and when it came up it became dry and dead because it had no water. And some went among thorns, and the thorns came up with it and it had no room for growth.read more.
And some falling on good earth, came up and gave fruit a hundred times as much. And with these words he said in a loud voice, He who has ears, let him give ear.

Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.

And he gave them teaching in the form of stories. A man had a vine-garden planted, and put a wall about it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and put up a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country.

And he gave the people this story: A man made a vine-garden and gave the use of it to some field-workers and went into another country for a long time.

It is right for the worker in the fields to be the first to take of the fruit.

Go on waiting calmly, my brothers, till the coming of the Lord, like the farmer waiting for the good fruit of the earth till the early and late rains have come.

When it was full, they took it up on the sands; and seated there they put the good into vessels, but the bad they put away.

The fishermen will be sad, and all those who put fishing-lines into the Nile will be full of grief, and those whose nets are stretched out on the waters will have sorrow in their hearts.