Payment by an employer for work done; all labourers should be paid fairly and regularly.
Laws relating to wages
Payment should be made regularly
Deuteronomy 24:14–15 See also Leviticus 19:13
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Regular rates of pay
Leviticus 25:50; Mark 6:37 parallel John 6:7; Mark 14:5 parallel John 12:5
Labourers should not be defrauded
Malachi 3:5; James 5:4 See also Jeremiah 22:13
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
A fair wage should be paid
Matthew 20:2–4 A normal day's pay for a labourer in NT times was one denarius. See also Colossians 4:1
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’
A fair day's work should be done
2 Thessalonians 3:10–12 See also Ephesians 6:7–8; Colossians 3:23
For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.” For we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives, accomplishing nothing, but being busybodies. We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly to earn their own living.
Labourers should be content with a fair wage
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
Wage earners suffer in times of trouble
Egypt under judgment
The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.
Jerusalem under judgment
Haggai 1:6 See also Zechariah 8:10
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
The world under judgment
The example of Jacob as a wage earner
Hosea 12:12 See also Genesis 29:15 He agreed his wages beforehand; Genesis 29:18 He was paid in kind; Genesis 29:25–27 He was cheated by Laban; Genesis 30:28–34 He makes an arrangement he can turn to advantage; Genesis 31:6–7 He accuses Laban of dishonesty; Genesis 31:8–9 He protests his own honesty; Genesis 31:38–42 He looks back on his experience.
Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife — for a wife he tended sheep.
The wages of God's servants
The Levites
Numbers 18:30–31; Nehemiah 12:44, Nehemiah 13:10–13
Temple workers
1 Kings 5:6; 2 Kings 12:11–15, 2 Kings 22:3–7 parallel 2 Chronicles 34:8–11; 2 Kings 22:9 parallel 2 Chronicles 34:16–17
Zechariah's derisory pay
Zechariah 11:12–13; Matthew 27:3–10
Labourers in the parable of the workers in the vineyard
Ministers of the gospel
1 Timothy 5:17–18 See also Deuteronomy 25:4; Luke 10:7; John 4:36–38; 1 Corinthians 9:7–14; Galatians 6:6
Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
The apostle Paul
It was Paul's choice to work freely: 1 Corinthians 9:15; 2 Corinthians 11:7–9; Philippians 4:18 He expressed gratitude for gifts he received.
Spiritual lessons from wages
Life's rewards are hard-earned
The wages of sin
Romans 6:21–23 See also Job 15:31–32; Isaiah 65:7; Jeremiah 51:6; 2 Peter 2:13
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The freeness of God's grace
The generosity of God
The rewards of righteousness
Proverbs 10:16, Proverbs 11:18, Proverbs 31:31; Matthew 10:42 parallel Mark 9:41; 1 Corinthians 3:14; Hebrews 6:10; 2 John 1:8
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.