57 Bible Verses about Suffering, Hardship
Most Relevant Verses
There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy. That is why I am commanding you to be generous with them.
Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their toil. They search in the wasteland food for their young. They reap in a field not their own and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.read more.
They are wet with the rain of the mountains. They cling to the rock in search of shelter. There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast. They take as a pledge the infant of the poor. The needy go about naked, without clothing; though hungry, they carry the sheaves. Between their terraces they press out oil. They tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to live in. Hungry and thirsty, they fainted within.
The seven years when there was plenty of food in Egypt came to an end. The seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every other country, but there was food throughout Egypt. When the Egyptians became hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them to go to Joseph and do what he told them.read more.
The famine grew worse and spread over the entire country. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.
Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water because it tasted bitter. That is why the place was called Marah (Bitter Place). The people complained about Moses. They asked: What can we drink?
The entire congregation complained about Moses and Aaron in the desert. The Israelites said to them: If only Jehovah had allowed us to die in Egypt! There we sat by our pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted! You brought us out into this desert to let us all starve to death!
The entire congregation of Israelites left the desert of Sin and traveled from place to place as Jehovah commanded them. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they complained to Moses about this: Give us water to drink! Moses said: Why do you complain to me? Why do you test Jehovah? The people were thirsty for water. They complained to Moses and asked: Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Was it to make us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?
Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for other kinds of food. Even the Israelites cried again and said: If only we had meat to eat! Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had? Now we have lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there is nothing but manna!
Now after a time the brook became dry, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of Jehovah came to him, saying: Go now to Zarephath, in Zidon, and live there. I have given orders to a widow woman there to see that you have food.read more.
He went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, he saw a widow woman gathering sticks. He said to her: Will you give me a little water in a vessel for my drink? As she was going to get it, he said: And get me some bread. Then she said: By the life of Jehovah your God, I have nothing but a little meal, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death.
Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their countrymen the Jews. Some said: We with our sons and our daughters are a great number. Let us get grain, so that we may have food for our needs. There were some who said: We are giving our fields and our vine-gardens and our houses for debt. Let us get grain because we are in need.read more.
Yet others said: We have given up our fields and our vine-gardens to get money for the king's taxes. But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children. Now we give our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants. Some of our daughters are servants even now. We have no power to stop this. For other men have our fields and our vine-gardens.
He spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. He did not eat anything during those days so when it was over he was hungry.
He said to Adam: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. You will eat your food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground. You came from the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.
I have been with you now for twenty years. Your sheep and your goats have not failed to reproduce. I have not even eaten any rams from your flocks. I always absorbed the loss when wild animals killed a sheep. I did not take it to you to show that it was not my fault. You demanded that I make good anything that was stolen during the day or during the night. Many times I suffered from the heat during the day and from the cold at night. I was not able to sleep.read more.
I have been in your house twenty years! I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters. I kept your flock for six years. You changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, out of respect for Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed by now. God has seen my misery and hard work. Last night he made it right!
Israel sent for Jeroboam and invited him back. Jeroboam and all Israel went to speak to Rehoboam. They said: Your father made us carry a heavy burden. Reduce the hard work and lighten the heavy burden he put on us. We will serve you.
You may remember, brothers, our labor and hardship. We worked day and night that we would not burden any of you when we preached the good news of God to you.
Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out. They call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
So the Egyptians put slave masters over them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply (storage) cities for Pharaoh.
Time went by and the king of Egypt died. The Israelites still groaned because they were slaves. So they cried out, and their cries for help went up to God.
Insist that they make the same number of bricks they were making before. Making fewer bricks will not be acceptable. They are lazy! That is why they are crying: Let us go offer sacrifices to our God. Make the work harder for these people so that they will be too busy to listen to lies.
The widow of a member of a group of prophets said to Elisha: My husband has died! As you know, he was a man who respected God. A man to whom he owed money came to take away my two sons as slaves in payment for my husband's debt.
Because oppressed people are robbed and needy people groan, I will now arise, says Jehovah. I will provide safety for those who long for it.
Be gracious to me, O Jehovah, because I am in distress. My eyes, my life, and my body waste away with grief. My life is spent from sorrow, my years from groaning. My strength staggers under the weight of my guilt, and my bones waste away. I have become a disgrace because of all my opponents. I have become someone dreaded by my friends, even by my neighbors. Those who see me on the street run away from me.read more.
I have faded from memory as if I were dead and have become like a piece of broken pottery. I have heard the whispering of many people, terror on every side, while they made plans together against me. They were plotting to take my life.
Jehovah of Hosts says: Cut down trees and build up a siege against Jerusalem. This city should be punished, for there is only oppression in her.
Publish it in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt. Proclaim and assemble on the mountains of Samaria, and observe the great trouble and oppression there.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who harvested your fields, which are held back by you, cry out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of Jehovah of Hosts.
So we went on with the work. Half of them had spears in their hands from the dawn of the morning till the stars were seen. At the same time I said to the people: Let everyone with his servant come inside Jerusalem for the night. At night they may keep watch for us, and go on working by day. Not one of us, I or my brothers or my servants or the watchmen who were with me, changed clothes. Everyone went armed to the water.
Moses told his father-in-law everything Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel. He talked about all the hardships they had on the way, and how Jehovah saved them.
The king spoke to Abiathar the priest: Go to your fields at Anathoth. You deserve death. But I will not put you to death now, because you carried the Ark of Jehovah God before David my father. You were with him in all his troubles.
Now three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam. The army of the Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. David said with longing: Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!read more.
So the three broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate. They took it to David. Nevertheless David would not drink it, but poured it out to Jehovah. He said: Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have placed their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.
On the fourteenth night we were driven to and fro in the sea of Adria. About midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land. They sounded and found twenty fathoms. After a little space they sounded again and found fifteen fathoms. Fearing they would be cast ashore on rocky ground they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight.read more.
The sailors were seeking to flee from the ship. They lowered the boat into the sea by pretending they were lowering some anchors from the bow. Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers: Unless these men remain in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. At daybreak Paul encouraged all of them to eat some food, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue without food. I encourage you to take some food for this is for your safety. Not a hair will perish from the head of any of you. After he said this he took some bread, gave thanks to God in the presence of all. He broke it and began to eat. Then they were all cheerful and ate some food. Together there were two hundred and seventy six persons on board. When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. When daylight came they saw no land. But they thought they saw a bay with a beach. They debated whether to drive the ship upon it. They threw the anchors overboard and left them in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. The ship stuck fast on a sandbar and ran aground. The bow struck fast and would not move. Then the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves. The soldiers' planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any from swimming away and escaping. The centurion desired to save Paul so he kept them from doing what they planned. He commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard, and get to the land first. The rest were to use planks or something from the ship. So they all escaped safe to the land.
You did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. You will serve your enemies whom Jehovah will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous wilderness. It was a parched, arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He was the one who made water come out of solid rock for you.
The Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us. They imposed hard labor on us. We cried out to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice. He saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.
In everything we commend ourselves, as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fasting;
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
After they preached the good news to that city and taught many, they returned again to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. They strengthened the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith. They said, We must enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation.
Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst. We are naked. We are treated badly and we are homeless. We labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being slandered, we answer kindly. We are made as the filth of the world and are the refuse of all things to this day.
We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our affliction that began in Asia. We were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we have had the sentence of death within ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more in labors more abundant, beaten beyond number, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times I received forty stripes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, I suffered shipwreck three times, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.read more.
In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brothers; In weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are from the outside, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the congregations. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I do not burn with indignation?
I am not saying this because I am in need; for I have learned to be content in whatever state I am. I know how to be poor. I also know how to live with abundance. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to have abundance and to suffer need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.read more.
You did well that you share with me in my affliction.
You shared the sufferings of prisoners. When all your belongings were seized, you endured your loss gladly. This is because you knew that you possessed something much better, which would last forever.
They were stoned, they were sawed in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. The world was not worthy of them! They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
God deals with you like children. Endure discipline (instruction) (training). Who is the child whom a father does not discipline?
You have endured and are patient. You suffer for my name's sake and have not grown weary.
Yes, we have had the sentence of death within ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.
Men will hate you because of me. He who endures to the end will be saved.
The man who endures under trial is blessed. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him.
As you know, those who have endured are called blessed. You have heard of the patience (perseverance) (endurance) of Job, and have seen the outcome Jehovah provided, how he was very tender with his affection and mercy. (Psalm 103:8)
For this is to your credit to suffer wrongfully and endure grief because of your conscience toward God.
