46 Bible Verses about Leisure, And Pastimes

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his beloved sleep.

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for you, LORD, only make me dwell in safety.

And he was in the rear of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awoke him, and said unto him, Teacher, care you not that we perish?

And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the guards before the door kept the prison.

And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.

And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, pass not away, I pray you, from your servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort your hearts; after that you shall pass on: for therefore are you come to your servant. And they said, So do, as you have said.

Practice hospitality one to another without grudging.

And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet wine, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be you grieved; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one on his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

Let our lord now command your servants, which are before you, to seek out a man, who is a skillful player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon you, that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is skillful in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a handsome person, and the LORD is with him.

And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward you, nor see you. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.

And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

And Jephthah came to Mizpah unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.

And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with instruments of music.

They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your timbrels, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the girl, Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I will give it to you.

And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and pipes.

For bodily exercise profits for a little while: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

Know you not that they who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain. And every man that strives for self control is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not with uncertainty; so fight I, not as one that beats the air:read more.
But I roughly treat my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.

And if a man also competes as an athlete, yet is he not crowned, unless he strives lawfully.

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

He sends the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild donkeys quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.read more.
He waters the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said unto him, Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

(For all the Athenians and strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented.

They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept.

For the time past of our life will suffice us to have done the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in licentiousness, lusts, excess of wine, reveling, carousing, and abominable idolatries:

And Noah began to till the soil, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunk; and he was uncovered within his tent.

And it came to pass, as soon as he came near unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.

Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not fitting: but rather giving of thanks.

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make sport for us. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made sport for them: and they set him between the pillars.

And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.