Bible Verses About Industry

She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchants.

Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the days to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband praises her as well:

“Many daughters have done noble things, but you surpass them all!”

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.

Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.

When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil.

For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

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

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

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

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.