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What does the Bible say about wages?

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The Bible teaches that workers should receive prompt, fair pay, while also showing that salvation is not earned by human labor but is God’s free gift in Christ. Leviticus 19:13, Deuteronomy 24:14-15, James 5:4, Jeremiah 22:13, and Malachi 3:5 condemn withholding or exploiting wages, especially from the poor and vulnerable. Employers are therefore called to act justly and sincerely before the Lord, as Colossians 4:1 teaches, while laborers may rightly receive support for their work, as Luke 10:7 and 1 Timothy 5:18 affirm. Romans 4:4 contrasts ordinary wages, which are owed for work, with justification, which comes by grace through faith. Romans 6:23 soberly declares sin’s earned wage, death, and God’s gracious gift, eternal life in Christ.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Romans 4:4

    Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as debt.

  • James 5:4

    Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

  • Leviticus 19:13

    "'You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

  • Jeremiah 22:13

    Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire;

  • Deuteronomy 24:14-15

    [14] You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates: [15] in his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it: lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.

  • 1 Timothy 5:18

    For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain." And, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

  • Malachi 3:5

    I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Hosts.

  • Colossians 4:1

    Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

  • Luke 10:7

    Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don't go from house to house.

  • Romans 6:23

    For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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