15 Bible Verses about Barrenness

When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer (vagabond) on the earth.

Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

Jehovah will become angry with you. He will shut the sky and there will be no rain. Then the ground will not grow any crops. You will quickly disappear from this good land Jehovah is giving you.

A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain.

The people of Israel plant the wind, but they harvest a storm. A field of grain that does not ripen will never produce any grain. Even if it did produce grain, foreigners would eat it all.

Then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. So she conceived and gave birth to a son. She said: God has taken away my reproach.

The other wife did everything possible to make her unhappy. This is because Jehovah had not given her children. Year after year when Peninnah went to the Temple of Jehovah, she kept on provoking Hannah. It bothered Hannah so much she wept and did not eat.

Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in Jehovah. My horn (strength) (power) is exalted in Jehovah. I speak against (mock) my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. No one is as holy as Jehovah. There is none beside you. Neither is there any rock like our God. Boast no more so proudly. Remove arrogance from your mouth. Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and he measures his actions (deeds). read more.
The bows of the mighty are broken. Those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for food. The hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven. She who has had many sons has languished. Jehovah kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up. Jehovah takes away and He gives riches. He brings low and lifts up high. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to set them among the princes. He causes them to inherit a throne of glory (honor). The pillars of the earth are Jehovah's. He sets the world on them. He guards the feet of his holy ones. The wicked are silenced in darkness. Man will not prevail by strength. The adversaries of Jehovah will be broken to pieces. He thunders in the heavens against them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn (power) of His anointed. Elkanah went home to Ramah. The child served Jehovah before Eli the priest.

Seven women will grab one man and say: We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you and be called by your name. Take away our disgrace.

She said: This is the way God has dealt with me by taking away my reproach among men. (1 Samuel 1:11)

God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? read more.
Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him. Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac. Sarah will bear him to you by this time next year.

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could have children. Jehovah had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech's household to have children because of Abraham's wife Sarah.

The other wife did everything possible to make her unhappy. This is because Jehovah had not given her children. Year after year when Peninnah went to the Temple of Jehovah, she kept on provoking Hannah. It bothered Hannah so much she wept and did not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her: Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you not eating? Why is your heart troubled? Am I not more to you than ten sons? read more.
So after they finished eating and drinking in Shiloh Hannah got up. The priest Eli sat by the pillars near the door in the Temple of Jehovah. Hannah was filled with grief and wept bitterly. She prayed and pledged an oath to Jehovah: O Jehovah of Hosts: If you will truly notice the sorrow of your servant. Remember me. Do not turn away from me. If you will give me a son, then I will give him to you, Jehovah, all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut. Hannah prayed to Jehovah for a long time. Eli watched her lips. She prayed silently. Her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk. He said to her: Stop making a drunken show of yourself! Stop your drinking and sober up! No, I am not drunk, she answered. I have not been drinking! I am desperate. I have prayed and poured out my troubles to Jehovah. Do not consider your maidservant a worthless woman. I pray like this because I am miserable and filled with grief. Eli answered: Go in peace. May the God of Israel give you what you have asked of him. Let your maidservant find favor in your sight, she replied. Then she went away, ate some food, and was no longer sad (self-concerned). The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early. After worshiping Jehovah, they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah and Jehovah answered her prayer. So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel. She explained: I asked Jehovah for him.

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a priest named Zechariah. He was of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God. They blamelessly obeyed all the commandments and ordinances of God (Greek: kurios: God). They had no child for Elizabeth was barren and they both were well advanced in years. read more.
He faithfully executed the priest's duties before God. The custom was to draw lots to see who served in the temple. It was his turn to enter into the temple of God and burn incense. The whole crowd of people prayed outside at the hour of incense. God's angel appeared to him when he was standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled. When he saw the angel he was filled with fear. Have no fear Zechariah, said the angel, for God has heard your prayer. Your wife Elisabeth will have a son and his name will be John. You will be filled with joy, and many will be happy at his birth. He will be great in the eyes of God. He will not drink wine or strong drink and he will be full of Holy Spirit from the time of his birth. Great numbers of the children of Israel will return to Jehovah their God because of him. (1 Samuel 7:3) He will go before God in the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness. This will make ready a people whose hearts have been directed to Jehovah (YHWH). (Malachi 3:1) Zechariah asked: How might I be certain of this for my wife and I are old? The angel answered: I am Gabriel, whose place is before God. I have been sent to give you this good news. You will be without voice or language till the day when these things happen. Your lack of faith in what I say has caused this. The people were waiting for Zechariah. They were surprised he was in the Temple for such a long time. When he came out he could not speak to them. They realized he saw a vision in the temple. Instead of talking he made signs to them. When the days of his priestly service ended he went home. His wife Elisabeth became pregnant. She remained in seclusion for five months. She said: This is the way God has dealt with me by taking away my reproach among men. (1 Samuel 1:11)

Isaac prayed to Jehovah for his wife because she was childless. Jehovah answered his prayer. His wife Rebekah became pregnant.

So he rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, and he led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.

He changes rivers into a desert, springs into thirsty ground,

He changes deserts into lakes (marshland) and dry ground into springs.