Matthew 20:6

Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Don’t love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?

Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.

Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,

Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land.

For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar.

He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep,

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally good.

Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.

But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.

for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.

that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is not willing to work, don’t let him eat.”

Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.

They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.

It shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and rush on the city. Behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.”

All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house.

Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood; also onyx stones, stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.

After him, Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?”

“Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed;

So you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won’t serve obscure men.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

“Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God—

Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground. I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.

The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

“This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’ ”

He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

“I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”

Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;

Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.

Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath,

Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control perseverance; and in perseverance godliness;

This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life.

You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.

If anyone is to go into captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, he must be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.

He said, “See now, I am old. I don’t know the day of my death.

Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?

Now set your heart and your soul to follow Yahweh your God. Arise therefore, and build the sanctuary of Yahweh God, to bring the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and the holy vessels of God into the house that is to be built for Yahweh’s name.”

The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,

that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.

For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.