Top 25 Bible Verses About Idleness (NIV)

¹³ Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

¹⁸ If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.

¹⁵ Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry.

⁴ The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

¹¹ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁴ Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

³⁰ I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; ³¹ thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. ³² I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: ³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest- ³⁴ and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

⁴⁹ "'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

¹³ Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.

⁹ One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.

⁴ A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

⁴ Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

²³ All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

²⁵ The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.

¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

³⁶ But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!

⁶ "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'

²⁷ The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.

²⁸ He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

¹³ The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!" ¹⁴ As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. ¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. ¹⁶ The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.

²¹ for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.