Labor

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningGenesis 3:19Exodus 20:9–11Exodus 23:12Exodus 34:21Leviticus 19:13Deuteronomy 24:14Deuteronomy 24:15Deuteronomy 25:4Ecclesiastes 5:12Jeremiah 22:13Malachi 3:5Matthew 20:1–15Luke 10:7Acts 20:351 Corinthians 9:9Ephesians 4:281 Thessalonians 4:111 Thessalonians 4:122 Thessalonians 3:7–131 Timothy 5:18
• See Employee
• See Employer
• See Idleness
• See Industry
• See Master
• See Servant

The passages, in Bible order (21)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 3:19

   By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 3:191 voice

   “Now, certainly nothing else is raised than that which is sown; and nothing else is sown than that which decays in the ground; and it is nothing else than the flesh which is decayed in the ground. For this was the substance which God's decree demolished, "Earth you are, and to earth shall you return;" Genesis 3:19 because it was taken out of the earth.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 3:19→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Exodus 20:9–11

   Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

   ›Commentary on Exodus 20:9–111 voice

   “Six days shalt thou labor - Therefore he who idles away time on any of the six days, is as guilty before God as he who works on the Sabbath. No work should be done on the Sabbath that can be done on the preceding days, or can be deferred to the succeeding ones. Works of absolute necessity and mercy are alone excepted. He who works by his servants or cattle is equally guilty as if he worked himself.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 20:9–11→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Exodus 23:12

   For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 23:121 voice

   “Six days thou shalt do thy work - Though they were thus bound to keep the sabbatical year, yet they must not neglect the seventh day’s rest or weekly Sabbath; for that was of perpetual obligation, and was paramount to all others. That the sanctification of the Sabbath was of great consequence in the sight of God, we may learn from the various repetitions of this law; and we may observe that it has still for its object, not only the benefit of the soul, but the health and comfort of the body also. Doth God care for oxen?

   Everything gathered on Exodus 23:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Exodus 34:21

   Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 34:211 voice

   “In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest - This commandment is worthy of especial note; many break the Sabbath on the pretense of absolute necessity, because, if in harvest time the weather happens to be what is called bad, and the Sabbath day be fair and fine, they judge it perfectly lawful to employ that day in endeavoring to save the fruits of the field, and think that the goodness of the day beyond the preceding, is an indication from Providence that it should be thus employed. But is not the above command pointed directly against this?

   Everything gathered on Exodus 34:21→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Leviticus 19:13

   You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.

   ›Commentary on Leviticus 19:131 voice

   “Let no one deny the hireling the wage he is owed, since we too are hirelings of our God, and from him we look forward to the reward of our labor. And if you indeed, whatever type of businessman you are, deny your hireling a monetary payment that is a perishable trifle, you shall be denied the reward of heaven that has been promised. You shall not defraud, as the law says, the hireling of his pay.

   Everything gathered on Leviticus 19:13→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Deuteronomy 24:14

   Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Deuteronomy 24:15

   You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 24:151 voice

   “He is poor, and setteth his heart upon it - How exceedingly natural is this! The poor servant who seldom sees money, yet finds from his master’s affluence that it procures all the conveniences and comforts of life, longs for the time when he shall receive his wages; should his pay be delayed after the time is expired, he may naturally be expected to cry unto God against him who withholds it. See most of these subjects treated at large on Exo 22:21-27 (note).

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 24:15→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Deuteronomy 25:4

   Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:41 voice

   “Thou shall not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. As oxen are used in ploughing, so likewise in treading or beating out the corn; of the manner of which; see Gill on 1Co 9:9; now while it was thus employed, it might not be restrained by any means from eating the corn as it had an opportunity, either by a muzzle put over its mouth, or other ways. The Gentiles had several ways of restraining their cattle from eating, while they thus made use of them, to which this law is opposed.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 25:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Ecclesiastes 5:12

   The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

   ›Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5:122 voices

   “Ecclesiastes sees that riches are kept for ill by one who possesses them, for their loss causes a very great anxiety and disquiet. Indeed they are lost, for they are left here and can be of no advantage to one who is dead.

   “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much,.... Or "of a servant" (i), who enjoys sleep equally as a king; a tiller of the ground, as Jarchi; who also interprets it of one that serves the Lord, as likewise the Targum; a beloved one of his, to whom he gives sleep, Psa 127:

   Everything gathered on Ecclesiastes 5:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Jeremiah 22:13

    “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 22:132 voices

    “(Verse 12 and following) Woe to him who builds his house with injustice, and his upper rooms without justice. He oppresses his neighbor in vain, and does not pay him his wages. He says, 'I will build for myself a spacious house with large upper rooms.' He opens windows for himself, and makes it with cedar and paints it with vermilion. Are you going to reign because you have luxury? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice when he was prospering?

    “But such a house as this sensual persons, they who dwell in cieled houses and delight in chased silver, do not build. For as they despise pure silver, so also they despise simple dwellings. They enlarge the site of their houses, they add more and more, joining house to house and farm to farm, they dig up the ground; so that the very earth itself gives way to their habitations, and like sons of the earth they are laid up within her womb, and hidden in her bowels.

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 22:13→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Malachi 3:5

    “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

    ›Commentary on Malachi 3:51 voice

    “And I will come near to you to judgment - They had clamored for the coming of “the God of judgment;” God assures them that He will come to judgment, which they had desired, but far other than they look for. The few would be purified; the great mass of them (so that He calls them “you”), the main body of those who had so clamored, would find that He came as a Judge, not for them but against them.

    Everything gathered on Malachi 3:5→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Matthew 20:1–15

    “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

    ›Commentary on Matthew 20:1–151 voice

    “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man,.... That is, the Gospel dispensation, or times of the Messiah, may fitly be represented by a man that is an householder, or master of a family, as Christ is; See Gill on Mat 10:25 He is master of the whole family of God, in heaven, and in earth, of all the children of God, and household of faith; his house they are, he is Father and master, son and firstborn, priest and prophet there.

    Everything gathered on Matthew 20:1–15→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Luke 10:7

    Stay at the same house, eating and drinking whatever you are offered. For the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

    ›Commentary on Luke 10:71 voice

    “See the notes at Mat 10:11. On this passage Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 534) remarks: “The reason (for the command, ‘Go not from house to house’) is very obvious to one acquainted with Oriental customs. When a stranger arrives in a village or an encampment, the neighbors, one after another, must invite him to eat with them.

    Everything gathered on Luke 10:7→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Acts 20:35

    In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

    ›Commentary on Acts 20:352 voices

    “I have showed you - I have taught you by instruction and example. I have not merely discoursed about it, but have showed you how to do it. All things - Or, in respect to all things. In everything that respects preaching and the proper mode of life, I have for three years set you an example, illustrating the design, nature, and duties of the office by my own self-denials and toil. How that - Or, that - ὅτι hoti. I have showed you that ye should by so laboring support the weak.

    “Somehow or other the very one who begs leave to offer you a gift holds you the cheaper for your acceptance of it; while, if you refuse it, it is wonderful how much more he will come to respect you.

    Everything gathered on Acts 20:35→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. 1 Corinthians 9:9

    For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

    ›Commentary on 1 Corinthians 9:91 voice

    “What was the use, however, of adducing the Creator's, which he was destroying? It was vain to do so; for his god had no such authority! (The apostle) says: "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," and adds: "Doth God take care of oxen? "Yes, of oxen, for the sake of men! For, says he, "it is written for our sakes.

    Everything gathered on 1 Corinthians 9:9→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Ephesians 4:28

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

    ›Commentary on Ephesians 4:281 voice

    “Those who live in the midst of this life's intense business appear to be forced, for the sake of food and necessary provisions, to buy and sell certain things and to seek unfair profit from business. It is difficult even for those who have been set free from the other passions—namely fornication, idolatry, adultery and murder—to escape being caught by this subtle vice.

    Everything gathered on Ephesians 4:28→

    Verse page →Original language →