Verses about work and rest

And YHWH Elohim took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every animal that creeps on the earth.”

In all toil there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to need.

A song of the ascents. Happy is everyone who fears YHWH, who walks in his ways. The labor of your hands, when you eat it, happy are you, and it will be good for you.

I knew that there is no good in them except to rejoice and to do good in his life; and also that every human being who eats and drinks and sees good in all his toil — it is the gift of Elohim.

All that your hand finds to do, do it with your strength, for there is no work or reckoning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together up to half of it; and the people had a heart to work.

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

After these things he departed from Athens and came to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who had recently come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome; and he went to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for they were tentmakers by trade.

Whatever you do, work at it from the soul, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord, the Messiah, whom you serve as slaves.

So then, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

and to make it your ambition to live quietly and to attend to your own affairs and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly toward those outside and have need of nothing.

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that you keep away from every brother who walks in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but with labor and toil we worked night and day so as not to burden any of you; not because we do not have the right, but so that we might give ourselves to you as an example so that you might imitate us.

A song of the ascents. Of Solomon. If YHWH does not build a house, in vain its builders toil on it; if YHWH does not keep a city, in vain the keeper stays awake. It is in vain for you to rise early to get up, to be late to sit down, to eat the bread of anxious toils; so he gives to his beloved sleep.

She seeks wool and flax, and works with the delight of her palms. She is like the ships of the merchant; from far away she brings her bread. And she rises while it is still night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidservants. She considers a field and takes it; from the fruit of her palms she plants a vineyard. She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms. She tastes that her gain is good; her lamp does not go out at night.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which, having no chief, supervisor, or ruler, prepares in the summer her bread; she gathers at the harvest her food. How long, sluggard, will you lie there? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down, and your poverty will come like a prowler, and your need like a man with a shield.

A slack palm makes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in the summer is a prudent son; he who sleeps in the harvest is a son who brings shame.

Whoever works his ground will be satisfied with bread, but whoever pursues empty things is lacking in sense.

The soul of the sluggard craves, and there is nothing; but the soul of the diligent will be filled to the full.

The thoughts of the diligent lead only to profit, but everyone who hurries only to want.

I passed by the field of a sluggard, and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense; and look, it had all grown up in thistles; nettles covered its surface, and its wall of stones was broken down. And I looked; I set my heart to it; I saw; I received correction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down, and your poverty will come like a prowler, and your need like a man with a shield.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant harvests come by the strength of the ox.

And on the seventh day Elohim finished his work that he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work that he had done. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all his work that Elohim had created to make.

Remember the day of the Sabbath, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or your resident alien who is within your gates. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; that is why YHWH blessed the day of the Sabbath and made it holy.

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.

For six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to YHWH. Whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as an eternal covenant. Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign forever; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he ceased and caught his breath.’”

Keep the day of the Sabbath to make it holy, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you. Six days you shall work and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male slave, or your female slave, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or your resident alien who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest like you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that YHWH your Elohim brought you out from there with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore YHWH your Elohim has commanded you to celebrate the day of the Sabbath.

And YHWH spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving you, the land shall cease, a Sabbath to YHWH. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its produce; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to YHWH; your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune. What grows by itself from your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your unpruned vine you shall not gather; it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

And he was saying to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, just as God did from his own. Let us make every effort, then, to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall by the same example of disobedience.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A psalm of David. YHWH is my shepherd; I will lack nothing. In pastures of grass he makes me lie down; beside waters of rest he leads me. He brings back my soul; he guides me along tracks of righteousness for the sake of his name.

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give rest to you.”

He gives strength to the tired, and to him who has no vigor he increases power. Youths will grow tired and grow weary, and young men stumbling, will stumble; but those who wait for YHWH will renew their strength; they will go up with plumage like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not grow tired.

But he himself went into the wilderness a day’s journey, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked for himself to die, and said, “Enough now, YHWH! Take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” He lay down and slept under a broom tree; and there, an angel was touching him, and he said to him, “Get up, eat.” He looked, and there, at his head, was a cake baked on hot stones and a jug of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of YHWH came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up, eat, for the journey is too much for you.” He got up and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to the mountain of Elohim, Horeb.

And he says to them, “You yourselves come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a little.” For those who were coming and going were many, and they did not even have the chance to eat.

And very early, while it was still night, he got up and went out and went away to a deserted place, and there he was praying.

But he would withdraw to the deserted places and pray.