There is much we have to say about this matter, but it is hard to explain to you, because you are so slow to understand.

Hard work will give you power; being lazy will make you a slave.

No matter how much a lazy person may want something, he will never get it. A hard worker will get everything he wants.

If you are lazy, you will meet difficulty everywhere, but if you are honest, you will have no trouble.

A lazy person is as bad as someone who is destructive.

I walked through the fields and vineyards of a lazy, stupid person.

I looked at this, thought about it, and learned a lesson from it:

but while you are asleep, poverty will attack you like an armed robber.

'You bad and lazy servant!' his master said. 'You knew, did you, that I reap harvests where I did not plant, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed?

Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion.

So then, my friends, try even harder to make God's call and his choice of you a permanent experience; if you do so, you will never abandon your faith.

As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.

Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith.

Don't you know the place, loveliest of women? Go and follow the flock; find pasture for your goats near the tents of the shepherds.

The LORD said to his people, "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace." But they said, "No, we will not!"

He is also the father of those who are circumcised, that is, of those who, in addition to being circumcised, also live the same life of faith that our father Abraham lived before he was circumcised.

My friends, remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering.

We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion.

For the devout women of the past who placed their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful by submitting themselves to their husbands.

Sarah was like that; she obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are now her daughters if you do good and are not afraid of anything.

Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised.

You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises.

It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.

For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.

Though Abraham was practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the seashore.

Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honor, and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life.

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express.

For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm.

Whoever is meant to be captured will surely be captured; whoever is meant to be killed by the sword will surely be killed by the sword. This calls for endurance and faith on the part of God's people."

This calls for endurance on the part of God's people, those who obey God's commandments and are faithful to Jesus.

What are the angels, then? They are spirits who serve God and are sent by him to help those who are to receive salvation.

You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises.

By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God.

It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.

Through faith they fought whole countries and won. They did what was right and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions,

'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is the God of the living, not of the dead."

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried,

And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'

He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive."

And this is what Christ himself promised to give us---eternal life.

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Happy are those who from now on die in the service of the Lord!" "Yes indeed!" answers the Spirit. "They will enjoy rest from their hard work, because the results of their service go with them."