3748 verses about Suffering

Redeem me from the oppression of man, so I will observe your precepts.

Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. TZADI

My zeal wears me out, because my enemies ignore your words.

I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.

Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me. Your commandments are my delight.

Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law.

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.

In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me.

Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace.

Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.

Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.

Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.

Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,

many times they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me.

The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.

Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up;

Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh.

Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction,

Who remembered us in our low estate; for his loving kindness endures forever;

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps.

For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing Yahweh’s song in a foreign land?

Happy shall he be, who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.

I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.

“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”

I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.

Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me.

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.

For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.

Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.

Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.

Revive me, Yahweh, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.

He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come on you.

You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away.

The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.

Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.

All the days of the afflicted are wretched, but one who has a cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast.

A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him.

A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small.

for a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

As one who takes away a garment in cold weather, or vinegar on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.

A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish; and wine to the bitter in soul:

Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:

Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.

All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened,

and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.