63 Bible Verses about Complaints

Do all things without murmurings and disputes,

Not that I speak in respect to lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

The people were complaining in the ears of the LORD. When the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled; and the LORD's fire burnt among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

Moses said, "Now the LORD shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you; because the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD."

The people spoke against God, and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread."

Neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you treated with your servant so badly? Why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?' Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'read more.
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and do not let me see my wretchedness."

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

"My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.

"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me? When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'read more.
then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions: so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I do not want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself? Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;' I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?

"Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

Why do you strive against him, because he doesn't give account of any of his matters?

Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence, For all day long have I been plagued, and punished every morning. If I had said, "I will speak thus;" behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.read more.
When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me; Until I entered God's sanctuary, and considered their latter end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed. They are completely swept away with terrors. As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies. For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

I pour out my complaint before him. I tell him my troubles.

You are righteous, LORD, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. But you, LORD, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.read more.
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, "He shall not see our latter end."

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. He prayed to the LORD, and said, "Please, LORD, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, said to his disciples, "Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"

The Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, "Look, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath."

And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?"

But some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why do you do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?"

"Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?"

"Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?"

And at once some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man blasphemes."

The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."

The Jewish people therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down out of heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, 'I have come down out of heaven?'" Therefore Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?"

They said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way, to bring us forth out of Egypt? Isn't this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."

The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; and the children of Israel said to them, "We wish that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I do not want to be a judge of these matters."

The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;

and you murmured in your tents, and said, "Because the LORD hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

It shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, 'Grant them graciously to us, because we didn't take wives for each man in battle, neither did you give them to them, otherwise you would now be guilty.'"

Do not count your handmaid as a worthless woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my distress and my anguish."

"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me? When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'

"My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan,

I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

Hear my prayer, LORD. Let my cry come to you.

Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.

Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me."

And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."

These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaks proud things), showing respect of persons to gain advantage.

The people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people.

Moses said to the LORD, "Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you LORD are in the midst of this people; for you LORD are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,read more.
'Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.' Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, 'The LORD is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.' Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." The LORD said, "I have pardoned according to your word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD; because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Suf." The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Tell them, 'As I live, says the LORD, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.' I, the LORD, have spoken, surely this will I do to all this evil congregation, who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die." The men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land, even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. Moses told these words to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed the LORD's people." It happened, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the Tent of Meeting: and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.read more.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." They fell on their faces. Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire from off the altar in it, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun." Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague has begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the plague was stayed.

When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them;

The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. There was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "We wish that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD.read more.
Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals? Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink." Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink." Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you water out of this rock for you?" Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?" Moses cried to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."read more.
The LORD said to Moses, "Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt. or would that we had died in this wilderness. Why does the LORD bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?"read more.
They said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you treated with your servant so badly? Why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?' Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'read more.
I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and do not let me see my wretchedness." The LORD said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone. "Say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you will eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you will eat. You will not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because that you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"'" Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, 'I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.' Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?" The LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD's hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not." Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent. The LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, "My lord Moses, forbid them." Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them." Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. A wind from the LORD went out and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth. The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them all abroad for themselves around the camp. While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Sea of Suf, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. The people spoke against God, and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread." The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.read more.
The people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people.