59 Bible Verses about Wasting

John 6:12-14 ESV / 52 helpful votes

And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 6:12 ESV / 49 helpful votes

And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

Leviticus 19:9-10 ESV / 37 helpful votes

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Matthew 25:14-30 ESV / 23 helpful votes

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ...

Matthew 26:8 ESV / 20 helpful votes

And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?

Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV / 14 helpful votes

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 13 helpful votes

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

Ephesians 5:16-17 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 6:4 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 26:14 ESV / 11 helpful votes

As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed.

Proverbs 20:13 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

Psalm 90:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Colossians 4:5 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

Luke 15:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

Proverbs 18:9 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

Proverbs 12:24 ESV / 9 helpful votes

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.

Proverbs 6:9-11 ESV / 9 helpful votes

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

1 Peter 4:3 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

James 4:14 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Galatians 5:22-23 ESV / 8 helpful votes

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

John 3:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ...

Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

Colossians 4:5-6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Ephesians 5:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Luke 19:12-27 ESV / 6 helpful votes

He said therefore, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ ...

Proverbs 14:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Genesis 2:15 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Colossians 2:1-23 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. ...

1 Corinthians 7:25-40 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ...

1 Corinthians 7:1-9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ...

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Proverbs 20:4 ESV / 5 helpful votes

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

Exodus 12:14-51 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ...

James 4:3 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Ephesians 4:17-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ...

John 9:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Matthew 24:23-27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Matthew 7:24-27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Isaiah 2:1-22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. ...

Proverbs 21:25 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

Proverbs 19:15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

Proverbs 15:19 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 13:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

Proverbs 12:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.

Proverbs 6:30 ESV / 4 helpful votes

People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,

Psalm 39:4-5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

Deuteronomy 28:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.

Exodus 23:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

Genesis 1:1-2:25 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

Ezekiel 1:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

Suggest a Verse


Visit the Bible online to search for words if you don’t know the specific passage your’re looking for.