25 Bible Verses About Lazy People (NIV)

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

⁸ If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

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

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

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 bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

²⁴ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!

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

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

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

¹⁹ He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

¹⁷ You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.

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

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

¹⁴ "Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. ¹⁹ "After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' ²¹ "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' ²² "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' ²³ "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' ²⁴ "Then the man who had received the one talent 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 talent 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 "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

⁵ He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

¹ A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke.

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

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

²⁶ As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him.

¹⁹ The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

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

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

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.

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