Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Consolation under Affliction » Is sought in vain from the world
Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.
Instruction » From nature
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and weeds had covered its face, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. read more.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come like a robber; and your want like an armed man.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come like a robber; and your want like an armed man.
And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this severe burden has God given to the sons of man to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and like grasping the wind. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered. read more.
I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to greatness, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is like grasping the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to greatness, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is like grasping the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? read more.
And why take you thought for clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
And why take you thought for clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Life » Of the spirit » Weariness of
My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these who are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and like grasping the wind.
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.
Oppression » Examples of
The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have oppressed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them who have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be slaves.
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judges?
And the number of the bricks, which they did make before, you shall lay upon them; you shall not diminish any of them: for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.