Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible



“I am disgusted with my life and loathe it!
I will give free expression to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Verse ConceptsComplaintsHealthBeing BitterResentment, Against GodSelf PitySuicideWeariness Of LifeLife DespisedDeath DesiredComplainingBitternesstiredventing


“Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That You would set a definite time and then remember me [and in Your lovingkindness imprint me on your heart]!
Verse ConceptsGrave, TheSheolDesire For DeathGod Hiding People

Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off! Then would I still have consolation -- "yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it] -- "that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One! read more.
What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?

Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work, So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

So that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).


Listen to another parable: There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it and dug a wine vat in it and built a watchtower. Then he let it out [for rent] to tenants and went into another country. When the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his [share of the] fruit. But the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. read more.
Again he sent other servants, more than the first time, and they treated them the same way. Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, They will respect and give heed to my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir; come on, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what will he do to those tenants? They said to Him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and rent the vineyard to other tenants of such a character that they will give him the fruits promptly in their season.

Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work, So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.


“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.
Verse ConceptsHiringHirelingsLeave Them Alone

For the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out in the morning along with the dawn to hire workmen for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour (nine o'clock), he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; read more.
And he said to them, You go also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will pay you. And they went. He went out again about the sixth hour (noon), and the ninth hour (three o'clock) he did the same. And about the eleventh hour (five o'clock) he went out and found still others standing around, and said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day? They answered him, Because nobody has hired us. He told them, You go out into the vineyard also and you will get whatever is just and fair. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first. And those who had been hired at the eleventh hour (five o'clock) came and received a denarius each. Now when the first came, they supposed they would get more, but each of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled at the owner of the estate, Saying, These [men] who came last worked no more than an hour, and yet you have made them rank with us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day. But he answered one of them, Friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this man hired last the same as I give to you. Am I not permitted to do what I choose with what is mine? [Or do you begrudge my being generous?] Is your eye evil because I am good?

But the hired servant (he who merely serves for wages) who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away. And the wolf chases and snatches them and scatters [the flock]. Now the hireling flees because he merely serves for wages and is not himself concerned about the sheep [cares nothing for them].

Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work, So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

Why then did You bring me forth out of the womb? Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease then and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort and cheer up

So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me. When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.