What does the Bible say about work?
Retrieved texts include Deuteronomy 5:13, Exodus 20:9, Psalms 104:23, Exodus 34:21.
The texts do not directly address broader modern formulations; NO DIRECT REFERENCE IN SOURCE TEXTS and INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE apply beyond retrieved passages.
THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
1. QUESTION
What does the Bible say about work?
2. PRIMARY TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
The retrieved texts provide several categories of teaching on work:
Work as Divine Command (Six-Day Labor Pattern):
"Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work" — Deuteronomy 5:13 (KJV)
"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work" — Exodus 20:9 (KJV)
"Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest." — Exodus 34:21 (KJV)
"Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed." — Exodus 23:12 (KJV)
Work as Natural Human Activity:
"Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening." — Psalm 104:23 (KJV)
Work and Its Rewards:
"For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee." — Psalm 128:2 (KJV)
Work and Its Limitations/Frustrations:
"For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?" — Ecclesiastes 2:22 (KJV)
"What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?" — Ecclesiastes 3:9 (KJV)
"For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil." — Ecclesiastes 2:21 (KJV)
Work in Apostolic Practice:
"For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God." — 1 Thessalonians 2:9 (KJV)
"And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:" — 1 Corinthians 4:12 (KJV)
Work in Partnership with God:
"For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." — 1 Corinthians 3:9 (KJV)
2. LINGUISTIC/HISTORICAL DATA
From the texts provided:
- The Hebrew term rendered "earing time" in Exodus 34:21 refers to plowing season, indicating agricultural context.
- The Sabbath commands explicitly extend rest to servants and animals (Exodus 23:12), suggesting work regulations had social welfare dimensions.
- Paul's reference to "night and day" labor (1 Thessalonians 2:9) indicates manual work undertaken to avoid financial dependence on those receiving his ministry.
3. SCHOLARLY POSITIONS
The retrieved texts suggest interpretive tensions that commentators would likely address:
- The Exodus/Deuteronomy texts present work as commanded and structured within a six-day framework.
- The Ecclesiastes texts raise questions about the ultimate profit or meaning of labor "under the sun."
- The Pauline texts present work both as practical necessity and as participation in divine purposes ("labourers together with God").
Note: The retrieved sources do not include scholarly commentary to elaborate further on these positions.
4. SOURCES
- Deuteronomy 5:13 (KJV)
- Exodus 20:9 (KJV)
- Exodus 23:12 (KJV)
- Exodus 31:15 (KJV)
- Exodus 34:21 (KJV)
- Exodus 35:2 (KJV)
- Psalm 104:23 (KJV)
- Psalm 128:2 (KJV)
- Ecclesiastes 2:21–22 (KJV)
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: retrieved texts do not resolve this question explicitly.