63 Bible Verses about Complaints

Do all things without grumblings and arguments,

Not that I speak regarding need, for I have learned in what things I am to be content.

In everything express thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

And the people were as murmurers, [speaking] evil in the ears of LORD. And when LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of LORD burnt among them, and devoured in the outermost part of the camp.

And LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, How long [shall I bear] with this evil congregation that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against me.

And Moses said, [This shall be] when LORD shall give you flesh to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning, for that LORD hears your murmurings which ye murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not a

And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread.

And ye should not grumble as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to those men for examples, and they were written for our admonition, to whom the ends of the ages came.

And Moses said to LORD, Why have thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou lay the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that thou should say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carries the sucking child, to the land which thou swore to their fathers? From where should I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.read more.
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough, now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my

My soul is weary of my life. I will give free reign to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me. Show me why thou contend with me.

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou set a watch over me? When I say, My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint.read more.
Then thou scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions, so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than [these] my bones. I loathe [my life]. I would not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity. What is man, that thou should magnify him, and that thou should set thy mind upon him, and that thou should visit him every morning, and try him every moment? How long will thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? If I have sinned, what do I do to thee, O thou watcher of men? Why have thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I am a burden to myself? And why do thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lay down in the dust, and thou will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.

If I say, I will forget my complaint. I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer, I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou will not hold me innocent.

As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?

Even today my complaint is rebellious. My stroke is heavier than my groaning.

Why do thou strive against him because he does not give of any of his matters?

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence, for all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have dealt treacherously with the generation of thy sons.read more.
When I thought how I might understand this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God, and considered their latter end. Surely thou set them in slippery places. Thou cast them down to destruction. How they have become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream from awakening, O LORD, when thou waken, thou will despise their form. For my soul was grieved, and I was pricked in my heart.

I pour out my complaint before him. I show my trouble before him.

Thou are righteous, O LORD, when I contend with thee. Yet I would reason the case with thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously? Thou have planted them. Yea, they have taken root, they grow. Yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. But thou, O LORD, know me. Thou see me, and try my heart toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.read more.
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that thou are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundan Therefore now, O LORD, I beseech thee, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners?

And the scholars of the Pharisees, when they saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?

And their scholars and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, Behold, thy disciples do what is not permitted to do upon the Sabbath.

And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath day?

But some of the Pharisees said to them, Why do ye what is not permitted to do on the Sabbath day?

Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

Then the Pharisees and the scholars demand of him, Why do thy disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?

Why does this man speak blasphemies this way. Who can forgive sins but one, God?

And behold, some of the scholars said within themselves, This man blasphemes.

And the Pharisees and the scholars murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

The Jews therefore murmured about him because he said, I am the bread that came down out of heaven. And they said, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? Therefore how does this man say, I have come down out of heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Murmur not among each other.

Now in those days, the disciples being multiplied, there developed a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily assistance.

And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why have thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst?

and they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness. And the sons of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this who

But when Paul was going to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If therefore indeed it were some crime or evil reckless deed, O ye Jews, I would have tolerated you according to the matter. But if it is an issue about a word and names and the law from you, look ye yourselves, for I do not intend to be a judge of these things.

And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness.

And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because LORD hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we took not for each man [of them] his wife in battle, neither did ye give them to them, e

Count not thy handmaid for an iniquitous woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken until now.

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou set a watch over me? When I say, My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint.

If I say, I will forget my complaint. I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer,

My soul is weary of my life. I will give free reign to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan,

I remember God, and am disquieted. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come to thee.

our oxen are well laden, no breaking in, and no going forth, and no outcry in our streets,

Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

But Martha was encumbered about much serving. And having stood near, she said, Lord, do thou not care that my sister left me behind to serve alone? Speak to her therefore that she may help me.

And all who saw murmured, saying, He went in to relax with a sinful man.

These are grumblers, fault-finders, going according to their lusts, and their mouth speaks overblown things, marveling personages for the sake of advantage.

And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against LORD, and against thee. Pray to LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

And Moses said to LORD, Then the Egyptians will hear it, for thou brought up this people in thy might from among them, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou LORD are in the midst of this people, for thou LORD are seen face to face, and thy cloud stands over them, and thou go before them, in a pillar of clo Now if thou shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,read more.
Because LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of LORD be great, according as thou have spoken, saying, LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth gene Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving kindness, and according as thou have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word, but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of LORD, because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them who despised me see it. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went, and his seed shall possess it. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. And LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, How long [shall I bear] with this evil congregation that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say to them, As I live, says LORD, surely as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, ye shall bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation. I, LORD, have spoken, surely I will do this to all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. And Moses told these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

But on the morrow all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of LORD. And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting, and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of LORD appeared. And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.read more.
And LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, Take thy censer, and put fire in it from off the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from LORD. The plague has be And Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly. And, behold, the plague had begun among the people. And he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried to LORD. And LORD showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

And the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brothers died before LORD!read more.
And why have ye brought the assembly of LORD into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts? And why have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces. And the glory of LORD appeared to them. And LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water, and thou shall bring forth water to them out of the rock. So thou shall give the co And Moses took the rod from before LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, ye rebels. Shall we bring forth water to you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice, and water came forth abundantly. And the congregation drank, and their cattle. And LORD said to Moses and Aaron, Because ye did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. These are the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel strove with LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do ye contend with me? Why do ye challenge LORD? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why have thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried to LORD, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me.read more.
And LORD said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee from the elders of Israel, and thy rod, with which thou smote the river, take in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the sons of Israel, and because they challenged LORD, saying, Is LORD among us, or not?

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness! And why does LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey. Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?read more.
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

And Moses said to LORD, Why have thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou lay the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that thou should say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carries the sucking child, to the land which thou swore to their fathers? From where should I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.read more.
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. And LORD said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them. And bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there. And I will take from the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou not bear it thyself alone. And say thou to the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh, for ye have wept in the ears of LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore LORD will give you Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you, because ye have rejected LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen, and thou have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And LORD said to Moses, Is LORD's hand grown short? Now thou shall see whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not. And Moses went out, and told the people the words of LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tent. And LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took from the Spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders. And it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no mor But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. And they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the tent. And they prophesied And a young man ran, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said to him, Are thou jealous for my sake? Would that all of LORD's people were prophets, that LORD would put his Spirit upon them! And Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. And there went forth a wind from LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of LORD was kindled against the people, and LORD smote the people with a very great plague. And the name of that place was called Kibrothhattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. From Kibrothhattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they abode at Hazeroth.

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to encompass the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread. And LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.read more.
And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against LORD, and against thee. Pray to LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.