Topical Bible: Wage

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Topical Encyclopedia

In the biblical context, the term "wage" primarily refers to the compensation or payment given for work or services rendered. The concept of wages is addressed in various passages throughout the Bible, reflecting both the economic practices of ancient times and the moral and ethical teachings related to labor and compensation.

Old Testament References

The Old Testament provides several insights into the concept of wages, emphasizing fairness and justice in compensation. In Leviticus 19:13 , the law commands, "You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand." This verse underscores the importance of timely and fair payment, reflecting God's concern for justice and the well-being of workers.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15 further elaborates on this principle: "Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers 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." Here, the emphasis is on the vulnerability of the worker and the moral obligation of the employer to provide just compensation.

New Testament References

In the New Testament, the concept of wages is often used metaphorically to illustrate spiritual truths. Romans 6:23 states, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." This passage contrasts the consequences of sin with the grace offered through Jesus Christ, using the idea of wages to convey the inevitability of spiritual outcomes based on one's actions.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard, found in Matthew 20:1-16, also addresses the theme of wages. In this parable, Jesus illustrates the kingdom of heaven by describing a landowner who pays all his workers the same wage, regardless of the hours they worked. This account challenges human notions of fairness and highlights God's sovereignty and generosity.

Ethical and Moral Implications

The biblical teachings on wages extend beyond mere economic transactions to encompass broader ethical and moral considerations. The Bible consistently advocates for justice, fairness, and compassion in the treatment of workers. James 5:4 warns, "Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts." This admonition serves as a reminder of the divine accountability that employers have in their dealings with employees.

Conclusion

The biblical perspective on wages is deeply rooted in the principles of justice, fairness, and compassion. Both the Old and New Testaments provide guidance on the ethical treatment of workers, emphasizing the importance of timely and fair compensation. Through its teachings, the Bible calls for a reflection of God's justice and mercy in all economic interactions.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (v. t.) To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar.

2. (v. t.) To expose one's self to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.

3. (v. t.) To engage in, as a contest, as if by previous gage or pledge; to carry on, as a war.

4. (v. t.) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.

5. (v. t.) To put upon wages; to hire; to employ; to pay wages to.

6. (v. t.) To give security for the performance of.

7. (v. i.) To bind one's self; to engage.

8. (v. t.) That which is staked or ventured; that for which one incurs risk or danger; prize; gage.

9. (v. t.) That for which one labors; meed; reward; stipulated payment for service performed; hire; pay; compensation; -- at present generally used in the plural. See Wages.

Greek

4754. strateuo -- to make war, hence to serve as a soldier
... war, hence to serve as a soldier. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: strateuo
Phonetic Spelling: (strat-yoo'-om-ahee) Short Definition: I wage war, fight ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4754.htm - 7k

3833. panoplia -- full armor
... from 3956 , "every" and 3696 , "weapon") -- properly, a complete set of defensive
and offensive armor (weapons), ie everything needed to wage successful warfare ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3833.htm - 7k

3408. misthos -- wages, hire
... Word Origin a prim. word Definition wages, hire NASB Word Usage pay (2),
price (1), reward (19), wage (1), wages (6). reward, wages. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3408.htm - 6k

3411. misthotos -- hired, a hired servant
... hired servant, hireling. From misthoo; a wage-worker (good or bad) -- hired servant,
hireling. see GREEK misthoo. (misthotos) -- 2 Occurrences. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3411.htm - 6k

4170. polemeo -- to make war
... Word Origin from polemos Definition to make war NASB Word Usage make war (1),
quarrel (1), wage war (2), waged (1), wages war (1), waging (1). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4170.htm - 6k

3696. hoplon -- a tool, implement, weapon
... weapons. 3696 -- properly, an implement (normally used for ). In the NT,
3696 ("instrument") is always in the (" to wage war"). 3696 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3696.htm - 7k

3407. misthios -- a hired servant
... hired servant. From misthos; a wage-earner -- hired servant. see GREEK misthos.
(misthioi) -- 1 Occurrence. (misthion) -- 1 Occurrence. 3406, 3407. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3407.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

6633. tsaba -- to wage war, serve
... 6632b, 6633. tsaba. 6634 . to wage war, serve. Transliteration: tsaba Phonetic
Spelling: (tsaw-baw') Short Definition: war. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/6633.htm - 6k

7939. sakar -- hire, wages
... Word Origin from sakar Definition hire, wages NASB Word Usage compensation (1),
fare (1), hire (1), reward (6), rewarded (1), service (1), wage (2), wages (15 ...
/hebrew/7939.htm - 6k

1624. garah -- to stir up (strife), engage in strife
... to stir up (strife), engage in strife NASB Word Usage contend (1), engaged in conflict
(1), mobilize (2), provoke (5), stirs (3), strive (1), wage war (1). ...
/hebrew/1624.htm - 6k

7916. sakir -- hired
... Word Origin from sakar Definition hired NASB Word Usage hired (1), hired
man (11), hired servant (2), man hired (1), wage earner (1). ...
/hebrew/7916.htm - 6k

4421. milchamah -- a battle, war
... war NASB Word Usage attacked (1), battle (148), battle* (1), battles (6), fight
(2), military (1), onslaught (1), soldiers* (3), time of war (1), wage war (1 ...
/hebrew/4421.htm - 6k

6213a. asah -- do, make
... 1), surely show (1), take action (6), thoroughly deal (1), treat (3), tried (1),
trim (1), trimmed (1), truly practice (1), use (1), used (4), wage (2), waged ...
/hebrew/6213a.htm - 8k

Library

Whether it is Always Sinful to Wage War?
... OF WAR (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether it is always sinful to wage war? Objection
1: It would seem that it is always sinful to wage war. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether it is always sinful.htm

The Labourers in the vineyard.
... For hours the sun had shown his face, When idlers in the market-place Once and
again were sent within The vineyard's wall their wage to win. ...
/.../mother stories from the new testament/the labourers in the vineyard.htm

Gehazi
... people. "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," but let there be more
than money in the wage, and more than labour in the service. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/milligan/men of the bible some lesser-known/gehazi.htm

Of the Diversity of Languages, by which the Intercourse of Men is ...
... But, say they, the wise man will wage just wars. As if he would not all the
rather lament the necessity of just wars, if he remembers ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/city of god/chapter 7 of the diversity of.htm

The Economic Challenge to the Church
... The IWW movement in the wheat fields and lumber camps of the Northwest is but the
beginning of the wage-earning consciousness as it spreads out from urban ...
/.../church cooperation in community life/chapter iii the economic challenge.htm

Soldier Priests
... with courage inspired by Him, but filling our hearts; not as though He needed us,
but inasmuch as He is pleased to use us, we have to wage warfare for and to ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture j/soldier priests.htm

Gladden -- the Prince of Life
... The wage question is at bottom a question of more or less life for the
wage-worker. Starvation wages are wages by which the hold ...
/.../kleiser/the worlds great sermons volume 8/gladden the prince of.htm

Showing what Christ Will do in the Day of Doom
... He will give to the good, for every good work done in God, a wage without measure,
that is to say, God's very Self, Whom no creature of itself can earn. ...
/.../john/the adornment of the spritual marriage/chapter ix showing what christ.htm

Whether Man Can Merit Everlasting Life Without Grace?
... Objection 2: Further, eternal life is the wage of reward bestowed by God on men,
according to Mat.5:12: "Your reward is very great in heaven." But wage or ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether man can merit everlasting.htm

The Warfare of Christian Service
... Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' But it is another sort of warfare about which I
am now speaking, the warfare which every Christian man has to wage who flings ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/the warfare of christian service.htm

Thesaurus

Wage (39 Occurrences)
... 1. (vt) To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to
lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar. ...Wage (39 Occurrences). ...
/w/wage.htm - 18k

Hire (48 Occurrences)
... (a) As a verb it means "to hire" for a wage, either money or something else; in
this sense it is used with regard to ordinary laborers (1 Samuel 2:5 2 ...
/h/hire.htm - 27k

Hireling (17 Occurrences)
... 13). In the time of our Lord a day's wage was a "penny" (qv) ie, a Roman
denarius (Matthew 20:1-14). Noah Webster's Dictionary. 1 ...
/h/hireling.htm - 13k

Guidance (9 Occurrences)
... victory. (WEB ASV NAS RSV NIV). Proverbs 20:18 Plans are established by advice;
by wise guidance you wage war! (WEB ASV NAS RSV NIV). ...
/g/guidance.htm - 9k

Wages (52 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary. (n.) A compensation given to a hired person for services;
price paid for labor; recompense; hire. See Wage, n., 2. Int. ...
/w/wages.htm - 28k

Wag (7 Occurrences)

/w/wag.htm - 8k

War (529 Occurrences)
... fight. 10. (vt) To make war upon; to fight. 11. (vt) To carry on, as a contest;
to wage. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. WAR, MAN OF. ...
/w/war.htm - 64k

Natures (12 Occurrences)
... 1 Peter 2:11 Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge
the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the ...
/n/natures.htm - 10k

Utterances (9 Occurrences)
... 1 Timothy 1:18 This instruction I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to
the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage the good ...
/u/utterances.htm - 8k

Gentiles (150 Occurrences)
... They might even possess Israelite slaves (Leviticus 25:47), and a Gentileservant
must not be defrauded of his wage (Deuteronomy 24:15). ...
/g/gentiles.htm - 45k

Resources

What is the meaning of the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard? | GotQuestions.org

What can I do when I am under spiritual attack? | GotQuestions.org

What does the Bible say about killing in war? Is killing in war a sin? | GotQuestions.org

Wage: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Wage (39 Occurrences)

Romans 4:4
Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as debt.
(See NAS RSV NIV)

1 Corinthians 3:14
if of any one the work doth remain that he built on 'it', a wage he shall receive;
(YLT)

2 Corinthians 10:3
For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh;
(WEB NIV)

1 Timothy 1:18
This instruction I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you, that by them you may wage the good warfare;
(WEB RSV)

James 4:1
Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don't they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
(See NAS)

James 4:2
You lust, and don't have. You kill, covet, and can't obtain. You fight and make war. You don't have, because you don't ask.
(See RSV)

1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the soul.
(WEY NAS RSV)

Revelation 13:4
They worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"
(See NAS)

Revelation 17:14
These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. They also will overcome who are with him, called and chosen and faithful."
(See NAS)

Joshua 11:20
For it was of Yahweh to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
(See NIV)

1 Samuel 2:36
and it hath been, every one who is left in thy house doth come in to bow himself to him, for a wage of silver, and a cake of bread, and hath said, Admit me, I pray thee, unto one of the priest's offices, to eat a morsel of bread.'
(YLT)

2 Kings 16:5
Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.
(See NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 22:5
He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead: and the Syrians wounded Joram.
(See NAS)

2 Chronicles 26:13
Under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
(See NAS)

Job 7:2
As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
(Root in WEB JPS ASV DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 55:18
He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, although there are many who oppose me.
(See RSV NIV)

Psalms 109:20
This 'is' the wage of mine accusers from Jehovah, And of those speaking evil against my soul.
(YLT)

Proverbs 10:16
The wages of the righteous is life; the increase of the wicked is sin.
(Root in JPS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 11:18
Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
(Root in WEB JPS ASV YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 20:18
Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
(WEB RSV NIV)

Proverbs 24:6
for by wise guidance you wage your war; and victory is in many advisors.
(WEB NAS RSV)

Isaiah 7:1
Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but were not able to overcome it.
(See NAS RSV)

Isaiah 19:10
And its foundations have been smitten, All making wages 'are' afflicted in soul.
(Root in YLT NIV)

Isaiah 29:7
And all the nations making war on Ariel, and all those who are fighting against her and shutting her in with their towers, will be like a dream, like a vision of the night.
(See NAS)

Isaiah 31:4
For the Lord has said to me, As a lion, or a young lion, makes an angry noise over his food, and if a band of herdsmen come out against him, he will not be in fear of their voices, or give up his food for their noise: so the Lord of armies will come down to make war against Mount Zion and its hill.
(See NAS)

Isaiah 40:10
Lo, the Lord Jehovah with strength cometh, And His arm is ruling for Him, Lo, His hire 'is' with Him, and His wage before Him.
(YLT)

Isaiah 41:12
You will make search for your haters but they will not be there; those who make war against you will be as nothing and will come to destruction.
(See NIV)

Isaiah 49:4
And I said, 'For a vain thing I laboured, For emptiness and vanity my power I consumed, But my judgment 'is' with Jehovah, And my wage with my God.
(YLT)

Isaiah 61:8
For I 'am' Jehovah, loving judgment, Hating plunder for a burnt-offering, And I have given their wage in truth, And a covenant age-during I make for them.
(YLT)

Isaiah 62:11
Lo, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth: 'Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Lo, thy salvation hath come,' Lo, his hire 'is' with him, and his wage before him.
(YLT)

Isaiah 65:7
your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, that have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom.
(See JPS)

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;
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 29:20
His wage for which he laboured I have given to him, The land of Egypt -- in that they wrought for Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.
(YLT)

Daniel 11:10
His sons shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through; and they shall return and war, even to his fortress.
(See NAS RSV)

Daniel 11:25
He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall war in battle with an exceeding great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall devise devices against him.
(See RSV NIV)

Micah 3:5
Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace!" and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:
(See NIV)

Zechariah 8:10
For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
(Root in WEB NAS RSV NIV)

Zechariah 14:12
This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.
(See RSV)

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 Armies.
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Wage

Related Terms

Illyricum (1 Occurrence)

Antiochus

Wage (39 Occurrences)

Jaw-bone (3 Occurrences)

Jawbone (3 Occurrences)

Game (11 Occurrences)

Wager (2 Occurrences)

Immanuel (3 Occurrences)

Dora