'Labor' in the Bible

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor.

When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.”

“When he saw that a resting place was goodAnd that the land was pleasant,He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,And became a slave at forced labor.

So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;

and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”

You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but none of your labor will be reduced.’”

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

“Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.

It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

It came about when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.

Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.

yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.

and Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;

and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to forced labor.

Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

Now the man Jeroboam was a valiant warrior, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.

Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

“Is not man forced to labor on earth,And are not his days like the days of a hired man?

‘Is it right for You indeed to oppress,To reject the labor of Your hands,And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked?

“They kneel down, they bring forth their young,They get rid of their labor pains.

“Will you trust him because his strength is greatAnd leave your labor to him?

“She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;Though her labor be in vain, she is unconcerned;

He gave also their crops to the grasshopperAnd the product of their labor to the locust.

As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,Or if due to strength, eighty years,Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;For soon it is gone and we fly away.

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,And vegetation for the labor of man,So that he may bring forth food from the earth,

Man goes forth to his workAnd to his labor until evening.

He gave them also the lands of the nations,That they might take possession of the fruit of the peoples’ labor,

Therefore He humbled their heart with labor;They stumbled and there was none to help.

Let the creditor seize all that he has,And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.Unless the Lord builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;Unless the Lord guards the city,The watchman keeps awake in vain.

The hand of the diligent will rule,But the slack hand will be put to forced labor.

Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles,But the one who gathers by labor increases it.

In all labor there is profit,But mere talk leads only to poverty.

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.

Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.

moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.

I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

There was a certain man without a dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, “And for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?” This too is vanity and it is a grievous task.

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

All a man’s labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied.

“Who is this coming up from the wildernessLeaning on her beloved?” “Beneath the apple tree I awakened you;There your mother was in labor with you,There she was in labor and gave you birth.

They will be terrified,Pains and anguish will take hold of them;They will writhe like a woman in labor,They will look at one another in astonishment,Their faces aflame.

For this reason my loins are full of anguish;Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,Thus were we before You, O Lord.

We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

“I have kept silent for a long time,I have kept still and restrained Myself.Now like a woman in labor I will groan,I will both gasp and pant.

“They will not labor in vain,Or bear children for calamity;For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord,And their descendants with them.

“But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,Stretching out her hands, saying,“Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers.”

“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth,Among them the blind and the lame,The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;A great company, they will return here.

“Kerioth has been capturedAnd the strongholds have been seized,So the hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that dayWill be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Behold, He will mount up and swoop like an eagle and spread out His wings against Bozrah; and the hearts of the mighty men of Edom in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it.”

I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me,” declares the Lord God.

“Writhe and labor to give birth,Daughter of Zion,Like a woman in childbirth;For now you will go out of the city,Dwell in the field,And go to Babylon.There you will be rescued;There the Lord will redeem youFrom the hand of your enemies.

Therefore He will give them up until the timeWhen she who is in labor has borne a child.Then the remainder of His brethrenWill return to the sons of Israel.

I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”