18 Bible Verses about Cynicism

and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, because it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!'"

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!"

The people contended with Moses, saying, "If only we had died when our brothers died before the Lord!

Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this warning, "May the gods judge me severely if by this time tomorrow I do not take your life as you did theirs!" Elijah was afraid, so he got up and fled for his life to Beer Sheba in Judah. He left his servant there, while he went a day's journey into the desert. He went and sat down under a shrub and asked the Lord to take his life: "I've had enough! Now, O Lord, take my life. After all, I'm no better than my ancestors."

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. Job spoke up and said: "Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, 'A man has been conceived!'read more.
That day -- let it be darkness; let not God on high regard it, nor let light shine on it!

"Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter, to those who wait for death that does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasures,

then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life. I loathe it; I do not want to live forever; leave me alone, for my days are a vapor!

"Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died and no eye would have seen me! I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave!

I said, "Oh, mother, how I regret that you ever gave birth to me! I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone. Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt."

Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! May that man be like the cities that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon.read more.
For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother's womb my grave forever. Why did I ever come forth from my mother's womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame.

So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!"

When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on Jonah's head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, "I would rather die than live!"

If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Calamity is hungry for him, and misfortune is ready at his side.

So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: "I am young, but you are elderly; that is why I was fearful, and afraid to explain to you what I know. I said to myself, 'Age should speak, and length of years should make wisdom known.' But it is a spirit in people, the breath of the Almighty, that makes them understand.read more.
It is not the aged who are wise, nor old men who understand what is right.

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause does not come to rest. A whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!read more.
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you yourself also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own estimation. Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, so is sending a message by the hand of a fool. Like legs that hang limp from the lame, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Like tying a stone in a sling, so is giving honor to a fool. Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like an archer who wounds at random, so is the one who hires a fool or hires any passer-by. Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up. I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated -- no one knows what lies ahead. Everyone shares the same fate -- the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

Then they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to take advantage of what he might say so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. Thus they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar or not?"read more.
But Jesus perceived their deceit and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?" They said, "Caesar's." So he said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Thus they were unable in the presence of the people to trap him with his own words. And stunned by his answer, they fell silent.