'Work' in the Bible

“Remember that you should magnify God’s work,Of which men have sung.

“All men have seen God’s work;Man looks at it from a distance.

When I see and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have established,

The Lord has made Himself known;He executes judgment;The wicked are trapped by the work of their own hands. Higgaion (meditation) Selah.

Repay them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices;Repay them according to the deeds of their hands;Repay them what they deserve.

For the word of the Lord is right;And all His work is done in faithfulness.

Do not worry because of evildoers,Nor be envious toward wrongdoers;

We have heard with our ears, O God,Our fathers have told usThe work You did in their days,In the days of old.

Have workers of wickedness no knowledge or no understanding?They eat up My people as though they ate breadAnd have not called upon God.

Deliver me from those who practice wrongdoing,And save me from bloodthirsty men.

Also to You, O Lord, belong lovingkindness and compassion,For You compensate every man according to [the value of] his work.

Then all men will fear [God’s judgment];They will declare the work of God,And they will consider and wisely acknowledge what He has done.

For You are great and do wondrous works!You alone are God.

Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servantsAnd Your [glorious] majesty to their children.

And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us;Confirm for us the work of our hands—Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

“When your fathers tested Me,They tried Me, even though they had seen My work [of miracles].

I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes.I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path];It will not grasp hold of me.

“At the beginning You founded the earth;The heavens are the work of Your hands.

Man goes out to his workAnd remains at his labor until evening.

Splendid and majestic is His work,And His righteousness endures forever.

The idols [of the nations] are silver and gold,The work of man’s hands.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,The work of men’s hands.

Do not incline my heart to [consent to or tolerate] any evil thing,Or to practice deeds of wickednessWith men who plan and do evil;And let me not eat of their delicacies (be tempted by their gain).

I remember the days of old;I meditate on all that You have done;I ponder the work of Your hands.

Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman;And I was daily His delight;Rejoicing before Him always,

A man will be satisfied with good from the fruit of his words,And the deeds of a man’s hands will return to him [as a harvest].

A just balance and [honest] scales are the Lord’s;All the weights of the bag are His concern [established by His eternal principles].

He who is careless in his workIs a brother to him who destroys.

The way of the guilty is [exceedingly] crooked,But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.

Prepare your work outsideAnd get it ready for yourself in the field;Afterward build your house and establish a home.

Take away the dross from the silver,And there comes out [the pure metal for] a vessel for the silversmith [to shape].

She sees that her gain is good;Her lamp does not go out, but it burns continually through the night [she is prepared for whatever lies ahead].

For all his days his work is painful and sorrowful; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity (worthless).

For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who pleases God. This too is vanity and chasing after the wind.

I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked,” for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and for every deed.

I have seen that every [effort in] labor and every skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity (futility, false pride) and chasing after the wind.

Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands?

For who [limited by human wisdom] knows what is good for man during his lifetime, during the few days of his futile life? He spends them like a shadow [staying busy, but achieving nothing of lasting value]. For who can tell a man what will happen after him [to his work, his treasure, his plans] under the sun [after his life is over]?

Consider the work of God:Who can make straight what He has bent?

All this I have seen while applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has exercised power over others to their detriment.

Because the sentence against an evil act is not executed quickly, the hearts of the sons of men are fully set to do evil.

and I saw all the work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though man may labor in seeking, he will not discover; and [more than that], though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, he will not be able to find it out.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given you under the sun—all the days of vanity and futility. For this is your reward in life and in your work in which you have labored under the sun.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) where you are going.

Just as you do not know the way and path of the wind or how the bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

For God will bring every act to judgment, every hidden and secret thing, whether it is good or evil.

(The Bridegroom)“Why should you gaze at the Shulammite,As at the dance of the two armies?“How beautiful are your feet in sandals,O prince’s daughter!The curves of your hips are like jewels,The work of the hands of an artist.

The strong man will become tinder,And his work a spark.So both will burn togetherAnd there will be none to quench them.

Their land has also been filled with idols;They worship the work of their hands,That which their own fingers have made.

So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.”

And he will not have regard for the [idolatrous] altars, the work of his hands,Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,Neither the Asherim (symbols of the goddess Asherah) nor the incense altars.

Moreover, those who make linen from combed flaxAnd those who weave white cloth will be ashamed.

[Those who are] the pillars and foundations of Egypt will be crushed;And all those who work for wages will be grieved in soul.

There will be no work for EgyptWhich head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.

whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage.”

For the Lord has said this to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end;

For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim,He will be stirred up as in the Valley of Gibeon,To do His work, His unusual and incredible work,And to accomplish His work, His extraordinary work.

For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,They will sanctify My Name;They will sanctify the Holy One of JacobAnd will stand in awe and reverent fear of the God of Israel.

Yet He is also wise and will bring disaster,And does not retract His words,But will arise against the house of evildoersAnd against the helpers of those who do evil.

and have cast the gods [of those peoples] into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.

Hear this! You [idols] are less than nothing,And your work is worthless;The worshiper who chooses you [as a god] is repulsive.

“Even from eternity I am He,And there is no one who can rescue from My hand;I act, and who can revoke or reverse it?”

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who quarrels with his Maker—A [worthless] piece of broken pottery among other broken pieces [equally worthless]!Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’Or does the thing say, ‘He has no hands’?

For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this,“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.

Listen carefully, all you who kindle your own fire [devising your own man-made plan of salvation],Who surround yourselves with torches,Walk by the light of your [self-made] fireAnd among the torches that you have set ablaze.But this you will have from My hand:You will lie down in [a place of] torment.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].

“Then all your people will be [uncompromisingly and consistently] righteous;They will possess the land forever,The branch of My planting,The work of My hands,That I may be glorified.

Listen carefully, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth,Say to the Daughter of Zion, “Look now, your salvation is coming [in the Lord];Indeed, His reward is with Him, and His restitution accompanies Him.”

Yet, O Lord, You are our Father;We are the clay, and You our Potter,And we all are the work of Your hand.

“They will not build and another occupy;They will not plant and another eat [the fruit].For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,And My chosen [people] will fully enjoy [and long make use of] the work of their hands.

For the customs and decrees of the peoples are [mere] delusion [exercises in futility];It is only wood which one cuts from the forest [to make a god],The work of the hands of the craftsman with the axe or cutting tool.

“They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field;They cannot speak;They have to be carried,Because they cannot walk!Do not be afraid of them,For they can do no harm or evil,Nor can they do any good.”

Silver that has been beaten [into plates] is brought from Tarshish,And gold from Uphaz,The work of the craftsman and of the hand of the goldsmith;Violet and purple are their clothing;They are all the work of skilled men.

They are worthless and devoid of promise, a work of delusion and mockery;In their time of [trial and] punishment they will perish [without hope].

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!For our backslidings are countless;We have sinned against You.

You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy [by setting it apart as a day of worship], as I commanded your fathers.

But it will come about, if you listen diligently to Me,” says the Lord, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds his house by [acts of] unrighteousnessAnd his upper chambers by injustice,Who uses his neighbor’s service without payAnd does not give him wages [for his work],

(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)’”

For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

Thus says the Lord,“Restrain your voice from weepingAnd your eyes from tears,For your work will be rewarded,” says the Lord;“And your children will return from the enemy’s land.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil in My sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have been provoking Me to anger by the [idols that are the] work of their hands,” says the Lord.

“Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord negligently,And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood [in executing the judgment of the Lord].

The Lord has opened His armoryAnd has brought out [the nations who unknowingly are] the weapons of His indignation (wrath),For it is a work of the Lord God of hostsIn the land of the Chaldeans.

The Lord has brought about our vindication and has revealed the righteousness of our cause;Come and let us proclaim in ZionThe work of the Lord our God!

They are worthless (empty, false, futile), a work of delusion and worthy of derision;In the time of their inspection and punishment they will perish.

You will repay them, O Lord,According to the work of their hands.

The [noble and] precious sons of Zion,[Once] worth their weight in fine gold,How they are regarded [merely] as earthen jars,The work of a potter’s hands!

Regarding the appearance of the wheels and their construction: they gleamed like chrysolite (beryl, olivine); and the four were made alike. Their appearance and construction were a wheel [set at a right angle] within a wheel.

Can wood be taken from it to make any object? Or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel?

If it has been thrown into the fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and the middle section has been charred, is it suitable or useful for anything?

Notice this, even when it was complete, it was not useful and was not made into anything. How much less, after the fire has burned [part of] it and [the remainder of] it is charred, can it still be made into anything?

“How weakened by longing and lust is your heart (mind),” says the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold and brazen prostitute.

“Your sail was of fine embroidered linen from EgyptSo that it became your distinguishing mark (insignia);Your [ship’s] awning [which covered you] was blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah [of Asia Minor].

Aram traded with you because of the abundance of the goods you made. They paid for your merchandise with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies.

They traded with you in choice fabrics and garments, in clothes of blue or violet and embroidered work, and in [treasures of] multi-colored damask and knotted carpets bound with tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers and protects,And I placed you there.You were on the holy mountain of God;You walked in the midst of the stones of fire [sparkling jewels].

“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard [at My command] against Tyre; every [soldier’s] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [from carrying loads of dirt and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no wages from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended during the siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].”

“They will elect men who will constantly go through the land, [men commissioned] to bury those who were passing through, those bodies that lie unburied on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will do a search.

The remainder of the length alongside the holy allotment shall be 10,000 cubits to the east and 10,000 to the west; and it shall be beside the holy allotment. The produce from it shall be food for the workers of the city.