Sloth (deadly Sin) - Laziness in The Bible

Laziness in The Bible

Although, as defined above, sloth is more akin to apathy and inactivity, many English speakers narrow it to mean simple laziness, about which the Bible makes many comments.

Lazy person falls prey to poverty

Ridiculously indolent and a lover of sleep, the lazy person sees lions all over the street (overestimating the difficulty of getting a job or working); his desires ″kill″ him because ″his hands refuse whatever to labour″, and his path becomes a ″hedge of thorns″ ... while he is wiser than seven sensible men in his own eyes. .... His household becomes a real ruin and he falls prey to his ″want″ (scarcity) coming like an armed person and in the end to poverty, coming upon him like a robber. The sluggard (lazy person) will share this fate with the talkative persons, with dreamers that ″watch the wind″ or ″regard the clouds″ and with those who ″chase fantasies″ (follow worthless pursuits).

The employed lazy person and the rich lazy person

If, however, this lazy person is the type that, eventually, ″takes his food to mouth″ (because there is a type of lazy person who doesn’t even take his food to mouth) and has a job, he is like ″vinegar to the teeth″ and ″smoke to the eyes″ for those who send him with any task. If the sluggard is rich, he should avoid getting that lazy insensitiveness of the chief people of Zion, that delight themselves in every way possible, and whom the prophet Amos predicted they would become slaves.

The lazy person leaves God's gifts unused

The wicked, worthless servant, that buries his talent in the ground, instead of investing the money with the banker, i.e. one who disregards God's gift, leaving it unused, is also lazy. His talent will be taken from him and will be given to the one who has 10 talents and the worthless servant is thrown into the darkness of hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (See the parable of the talents.)

The lazy person breaks again the commandments of God

Whoever is lazy (slack) in his work becomes brother to one who destroys (meaning The Evil-One, the devil because the devil is murderer) for the second time He breaks again the command of God, Who sent him to work this time, for not obeying God, Who forbids them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The growth of the virtues is the enemy of laziness

The Christian must not become sluggish (lazy), but be a zealous follower of those who ″inherit the promises″ because the growth of the virtues makes the laziness go away.