11 Bible Verses about Severe Afflictions

for during an ordeal of severe distress, their abundant joy and their deep poverty [together] overflowed in the wealth of their lavish generosity.

“For You cast me into the deep,
Into the [deep] heart of the seas,
And the currents surrounded and engulfed me;
All Your breakers and billowing waves passed over me.

“But now God has exhausted me.
You [O Lord] have destroyed all my family and my household.

“You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up,
It has become a witness [against me];
And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,
It testifies to my face [about my guilt].

“His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,
He has gnashed at me with his teeth;
My adversary sharpens His gaze and glares [with piercing eyes] at me.
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“They have gaped at me with their mouths,
With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;
They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.

“God hands me over to criminals
And tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.

“I was [living] at ease, but He crushed me and broke me apart,
And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.

“His arrows surround me.
He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;
He pours out my gall on the ground.

“He attacks me, making wound after wound;
He runs at me like a warrior.

“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]
And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

“My face is red and swollen with weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],

Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

You made men (charioteers) ride over our heads [in defeat];
We went through fire and through water,
Yet You brought us out into a [broad] place of abundance [to be refreshed].

I said to him, “My lord, you know [the answer].” And he said to me, “These are the people who come out of the great tribulation (persecution), and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb [because of His atoning sacrifice].

But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron [smelting] furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as [you are] this day.

Some dwelt in darkness and in the deep (deathly) darkness,
Prisoners [bound] in misery and chains,

You have fed them the bread of tears,
And You have made them drink [bitter] tears in abundance.

Because the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
My spirit drinks their poison;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

For Your arrows have sunk into me and penetrate deeply,
And Your hand has pressed down on me and greatly disciplined me.