18 Bible Verses about Ambivalence

You murmured and were ill-tempered (discontented) in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us He has brought us from the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us.

Then David came to Saul and attended him. Saul loved him greatly and [later] David became his armor bearer. Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Please let David be my attendant, for he has found favor in my sight.”

When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, his daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s constant enemy.

She replied, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful thing! As for me, how could I get rid of my shame and disgrace? And you, you will be considered one of the fools in Israel. So now, just speak to the king [about taking me as your wife], for he will not withhold me from you.” But he would not listen to her; and since he was stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.read more.
Then Amnon became extremely hateful toward her, for his hatred toward her was greater than the love which he had for her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” But she said, “No, because this wrong of sending me away is worse than the other that you have done to me!” But he would not listen to her. Instead, he called his young man who was his personal servant and said, “Now throw this woman out of my presence and bolt the door behind her.” Now Tamar was wearing a [long-sleeved] robe of various colors; for that is how the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then Amnon’s personal servant took her out and bolted the door behind her. So Tamar put dust on her head [in grief] and tore the long-sleeved robe which she had on, and she put her hand on her head and went away crying out [for help].

For you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have shown today that commanders and servants are nothing to you; for today I know that if Absalom had lived and all the rest of us had died today, then you would be pleased.

Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

“For He inflicts pain, but He binds up and gives relief;
He wounds, but His hands also heal.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.

But You are holy,
O You who are enthroned in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].
read more.

In You our fathers trusted [leaned on, relied on, and were confident];
They trusted and You rescued them.

They cried out to You and were delivered;
They trusted in You and were not disappointed or ashamed.
But I am [treated as] a worm [insignificant and powerless] and not a man;
I am the scorn of men and despised by the people.

All who see me laugh at me and mock me;
They [insultingly] open their lips, they shake their head, saying,

“He trusted and committed himself to the Lord, let Him save him.
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
Yet You are He who pulled me out of the womb;
You made me trust when on my mother’s breasts.

I was cast upon You from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near;
And there is no one to help.

“What right has My beloved [to be] in My house
When she has done many vile things and acted treacherously [over and over again]?
Can vows and the meat of your sacrifices remove your wickedness from you and cancel the consequences of your sin,
So that you can [escape your judgment and] rejoice?”

[Jeremiah said,] O Lord, You have persuaded me and I was deceived;
You are stronger than I and You have prevailed.
I am a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.

Then the king gave a command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you constantly serve, rescue you Himself!”

Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, “I am strong!”

And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for strong and distant nations.
Then they shall hammer their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks [so that the implements of war may become the tools of agriculture];
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Nor shall they ever again train for war.

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I ran to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, and [when sinners turn to You] You revoke the [sentence of] disaster [against them]. Therefore now, O Lord, just take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” read more.
Then the Lord said, “Do you have a good reason to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat east of it. There he made himself a shelter and sat under its shade so that he could see what would happen in the city. So the Lord God prepared a plant and it grew up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head to spare him from discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about [the protection of] the plant. But God prepared a worm when morning dawned the next day, and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God prepared a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he fainted and he wished to die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have a good reason to be angry about [the loss of] the plant?” And he said, “I have a [very] good reason to be angry, angry enough to die!” Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin], as well as many [blameless] animals?”

“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How and in what way have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I loved Jacob (Israel); but [in comparison with My love for Jacob] I have hated Esau (Edom), and I have made his mountains a wasteland, and have given his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.”

At that very hour some Pharisees came up and said to Him, “Leave and go away from here, because Herod [Antipas] wants to kill You.”

From the standpoint of the gospel, the Jews [at present] are enemies [of God] for your sake [which is for your benefit], but from the standpoint of God’s choice [of the Jews as His people], they are still loved by Him for the sake of the fathers.

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. These things, my brothers, should not be this way [for we have a moral obligation to speak in a manner that reflects our fear of God and profound respect for His precepts]. Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? read more.
Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.