15 Bible Verses about Barrenness

No longer will the earth give you her fruit as the reward of your work; you will be a wanderer in flight over the earth.

And your strength will be used up without profit; for your land will not give her increase and the trees of the field will not give their fruit.

For if you do so, the wrath of the Lord will be burning against you, and the heaven will be shut up so that there is no rain and the land will give no fruit; and in a very little time you will be cut off from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

For they have been planting the wind, and their fruit will be the storm; his grain has no stem, it will give no meal, and if it does, a strange nation will take it.

Then God gave thought to Rachel, and hearing her prayer he made her fertile. And she was with child, and gave birth to a son: and she said, God has taken away my shame.

And the other wife did everything possible to make her unhappy, because the Lord had not let her have children; And year by year, whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, she kept on attacking her, so that Hannah gave herself up to weeping and would take no food.

And Hannah, in prayer before the Lord, said, My heart is glad in the Lord, my horn is lifted up in the Lord: my mouth is open wide over my haters; because my joy is in your salvation. No other is holy as the Lord, for there is no other God but you: there is no Rock like our God. Say no more words of pride; let not uncontrolled sayings come out of your mouths: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, by him acts are judged. read more.
The bows of the men of war are broken, and the feeble are clothed with strength. Those who were full are offering themselves as servants for bread; those who were in need are at rest; truly, she who had no children has become the mother of seven; and she who had a family is wasted with sorrow. The Lord is the giver of death and life: sending men down to the underworld and lifting them up. The Lord gives wealth and takes a man's goods from him: crushing men down and again lifting them up; Lifting the poor out of the dust, and him who is in need out of the lowest place, to give them their place among rulers, and for their heritage the seat of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has made them the base of the world. He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the evil-doers will come to their end in the dark night, for by strength no man will overcome. Those who make war against the Lord will be broken; against them he will send his thunder from heaven: the Lord will be judge of the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, lifting up the horn of him on whom the holy oil has been put. Then Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child became the servant of the Lord under the direction of Eli the priest.

And in that day seven women will put their hands on one man, saying, There will be no need for you to give us food or clothing, only let us go under your name, so that our shame may be taken away.

The Lord has done this to me, for his eyes were on me, to take away my shame in the eyes of men.

And God said, As for Sarai, your wife, from now her name will be not Sarai, but Sarah. And I will give her a blessing so that you will have a son by her: truly my blessing will be on her, and she will be the mother of nations: kings of peoples will be her offspring. Then Abraham went down on his face, and laughing, said in his heart, May a man a hundred years old have a child? will Sarah, at ninety years old, give birth? read more.
And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael's life might be your care! And God said, Not so; but Sarah, your wife, will have a son, and you will give him the name Isaac, and I will make my agreement with him for ever and with his seed after him. As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer: truly I have given him my blessing and I will make him fertile and give him great increase; he will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation. But my agreement will be with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth a year from this time.

Then Abraham made prayer to God, and God made Abimelech well again, and his wife and his women-servants, so that they had children. For the Lord had kept all the women of the house of Abimelech from having children, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

And the other wife did everything possible to make her unhappy, because the Lord had not let her have children; And year by year, whenever she went up to the house of the Lord, she kept on attacking her, so that Hannah gave herself up to weeping and would take no food. Then her husband Elkanah said to her, Hannah, why are you weeping? and why are you taking no food? why is your heart troubled? am I not more to you than ten sons? read more.
So after they had taken food and wine in the guest room, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was seated by the pillars of the doorway of the Temple of the Lord. And with grief in her soul, weeping bitterly, she made her prayer to the Lord. And she made an oath, and said, O Lord of armies, if you will truly take note of the sorrow of your servant, not turning away from me but keeping me in mind, and will give me a man-child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut. Now while she was a long time in prayer before the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth. For Hannah's prayer came from her heart, and though her lips were moving she made no sound: so it seemed to Eli that she was overcome with wine. And Eli said to her, How long are you going to be the worse for drink? Put away the effects of your wine from you. And Hannah, answering him, said, No, my lord, I am a woman whose spirit is broken with sorrow: I have not taken wine or strong drink, but I have been opening my heart before the Lord. Do not take your servant to be a good-for-nothing woman: for my words have come from my stored-up sorrow and pain. Then Eli said to her, Go in peace: and may the God of Israel give you an answer to the prayer you have made to him. And she said, May your servant have grace in your eyes. So the woman went away, and took part in the feast, and her face was no longer sad. And early in the morning they got up, and after worshipping before the Lord they went back to Ramah, to their house: and Elkanah had connection with his wife; and the Lord kept her in mind. Now the time came when Hannah, being with child, gave birth to a son; and she gave him the name Samuel, Because, she said, I made a prayer to the Lord for him.

In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a certain priest, by name Zacharias, of the order of Abijah; and he had a wife of the family of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. They were upright in the eyes of God, keeping all the rules and orders of God, and doing no wrong. And they were without children, because Elisabeth had never given birth, and they were at that time very old. read more.
Now it came about that in his turn he was acting as priest before God, And as was the way of the priests, he had to go into the Temple to see to the burning of perfumes. And all the people were offering prayers outside, at the time of the burning of perfumes. And he saw an angel of the Lord in his place on the right side of the altar. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear came on him. But the angel said, Have no fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and his name will be John. And you will be glad and have great delight; and numbers of people will have joy at his birth. For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord; he will not take wine or strong drink; and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth. And through him great numbers of the children of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God. And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord. And Zacharias said to the angel, How may I be certain of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is far on in years. And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news. Now, see, you will be without voice or language till the day when these things come about, because you had not faith in my words, which will have effect at the right time. And the people were waiting for Zacharias and were surprised because he was in the Temple for such a long time. And when he came out he was not able to say anything, and they saw that he had seen a vision in the Temple; and he was making signs to them without words. And when the days of his work in the Temple were ended, he went back to his house. After that time, Elisabeth, being certain that she was to become a mother, kept herself from men's eyes for five months, saying, The Lord has done this to me, for his eyes were on me, to take away my shame in the eyes of men.

Isaac made prayer to the Lord for his wife because she had no children; and the Lord gave ear to his prayer, and Rebekah became with child.

By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land.

He makes rivers into waste places, and springs of water into a dry land;

He makes a waste land into a place of water, and a dry land into water-springs.