Idleness: General Scriptures Concerning

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

Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

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

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slacker to those who send him.

Better to be lightly esteemed yet have a servant, than to be self-important but lack food.

The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.

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.

The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.

Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.

The slacker buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth.

The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

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

The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work.

All day long he covets more, but the righteous give without restraint.

The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!”

For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

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

The slacker says, “A lion is in the road! A fierce lion roams the public square!” …

The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.

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

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.

‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’

Then another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have laid away in a piece of cloth. …

Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

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

For we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives, accomplishing nothing, but being busybodies.

At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention.