Bible Verses About Laziness

Share

Compiled by The BibleStudyTools Staff on 07/23/2021
Bible Verses About Laziness

Bible Verses about Laziness - Scriptures on Sloth and Dereliction

God's Word makes it very clear that we are instructed to work hard and put our best effort forward. The Bible, especially in the wisdom-filled book of Proverbs, speaks often of the cause and effect relationship of hard work and rewards as well as laziness and ruin. Colossians 3:23 tells us a Christian should "work with all their heart as working for the Lord". Our work is probably one of the greatest testimonies of our faith!

Laziness has no place in the character of a follower of Jesus. Read what the Bible has to say about being lazy and the heartbreaking consequences of having a lazy lifestyle.

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Manusapon Kasosod

Use this free PDF of Encouraging Bible Verses as inspiration to live diligently with faith and love for God!

Colossians 3:17

Worship God through your actions today! - Colossians 3:17
17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Read Chapter All Versions

Colossians 3:23

Do For the Lord
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Read Chapter All Versions

Ecclesiastes 9:10

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Read Chapter All Versions

1 Timothy 5:8

8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Read Chapter All Versions

Genesis 2:15

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Read Chapter All Versions

Luke 16:10

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 10:4

4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 10:5

5 He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 12:11

Proverbs 12:11
11 Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 12:24

24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 13:4

4 A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 14:23

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

Proverbs 19:15

15 Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 20:4

4 Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 6:6

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

Proverbs 26:15

15 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
Read Chapter All Versions

Ephesians 5:15-17

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 6:9-12

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
Read Chapter All Versions

2 Thessalonians 3:6-10

2 Thessalonians 3:10
6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you,
8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
Read Chapter All Versions

Proverbs 24:30-34

30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
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 thief and scarcity like an armed man.
Read Chapter All Versions

Matthew 25:24-29

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?
27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.
29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
Read Chapter All Versions