Ephesians 4:28

The Message

Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.

Cross References

Exodus 20:15

No stealing.

Exodus 20:17

No lusting after your neighbor’s house—or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on anything that is your neighbor’s. * * *

Exodus 21:16

“If someone kidnaps a person, the penalty is death, regardless of whether the person has been sold or is still held in possession.

Proverbs 13:11

Easy come, easy go, but steady diligence pays off.

Proverbs 14:23

Hard work always pays off; mere talk puts no bread on the table.

Proverbs 21:26

Sinners are always wanting what they don’t have; the God-loyal are always giving what they do have.

Proverbs 28:13

You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.

Zechariah 5:3

He told me, “This book is the verdict going out worldwide against thieves and liars. The first half of the book disposes of everyone who steals; the second half takes care of everyone who lies. I launched it”—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—“and so it will fly into the house of every thief and every liar. It will land in each house and tear it down, timbers and stones.”

Luke 19:8

Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”

Titus 3:14

Our people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are met (especially among the needy) and they don’t end up with nothing to show for their lives.