3748 verses about Suffering

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.

My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;

What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.

Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.

Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.”

Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”

They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,

and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.

Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother.

One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:

They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says “My people who dwell in Zion, don’t be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did.

Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!

They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.

Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped.

It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,

They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?”

They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.

In their streets, they clothe themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.

Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them.

My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.

For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim.

Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken.

Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.

Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop.

Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.

It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.

In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.