Work

³ So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?”

⁴ Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.

⁶ Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received from us.

⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,

⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

⁹ Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.

¹⁰ For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”

¹¹ Yet we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives and accomplishing nothing but being busybodies.

We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly to earn their own living.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,

²⁴ because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

²⁵ Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

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.

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.

⁹ Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.

¹⁰ Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

Through laziness the roof caves in, and in the hands of the idle, the house leaks.

⁴ He who watches the wind will fail to sow, and he who observes the clouds will fail to reap.

⁵ As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

⁶ Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.

Have these men judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you any major issue, but all minor cases they can judge on their own, so that your load may be lightened as they share it with you.

So we rebuilt the wall until all of it was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

⁶ Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

⁷ Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,

⁸ it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, O slacker? 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 upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of food.

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will be stationed in the presence of kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

³² I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction:

³³ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

³⁴ and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

¹ Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

² In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat— for He gives sleep to His beloved.

¹⁰ And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more

¹¹ and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

¹² Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops.

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

³⁰ I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.

³¹ Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.

² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to visit them,

³ and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.

² “See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

³ And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship,

⁴ to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

⁵ to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every craft.

⁶ Moreover, I have selected Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as his assistant. I have also given skill to all the craftsmen, that they may fashion all that I have commanded you:

⁷ the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat upon it, and all the other furnishings of the tent—

⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,

⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions.

²⁵ Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen.

²⁶ And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.

³¹ And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship,

³² to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,

³³ to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every artistic craft.

³⁴ And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.

³⁸ I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.

³⁹ I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.

⁴⁰ As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.

⁴¹ Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

¹⁶ And from that day on, half of my servants did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers stationed themselves behind all the people of Judah

¹⁷ who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried materials worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.

¹⁸ And each of the builders worked with his sword strapped at his side. But the trumpeter stayed beside me.

¹⁹ Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “The work is great and extensive, and we are spread out far from one another along the wall.

²⁰ Wherever you hear the sound of the horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

²¹ So we continued the work, while half of the men held spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out.

¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

¹³ when we are slandered, we answer gently. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

Surely you recall, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

¹³ The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

¹⁴ Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”

¹³ The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening.

¹⁴ When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?”

And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

¹⁷ And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

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.”

²⁶ Give me my wives and children for whom I have served you, that I may go on my way. You know how hard I have worked for you.”

²⁷ But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”

²⁸ And he added, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”

²⁹ Then Jacob answered, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock have thrived under my care.

³⁰ Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”

You know that I have served your father with all my strength.

³ When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did,

⁴ Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned.

⁵ From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field.

And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison.