18 Bible Verses about Cynicism

And they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why hast thou dealt thus with us, to conduct us out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we told thee in Egypt, Saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

And the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full: for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

And the people chid with Moses, and spoke, saying, O that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper-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 not better than my fathers.

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spoke, and said, Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a mail child conceived.read more.
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul; Who long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;

Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. I lothe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

Why then hast thou brought me forth from the womb? O that I had expired, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

Cursed be the day in which I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A male child is born to thee; making him very glad. And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noon;read more.
Because he slew me not at my birth; or that my mother might have been my grave, and she had not been delivered. Why was I brought into the world to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

And it came to pass, when the sun rose that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.

His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you my opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.read more.
Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest; so honor is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back.read more.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

And they watched him, and sent forth spies, who should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him to the power and authority of the governor. And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Cesar, or not?read more.
But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, Why tempt ye me? Show me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Cesar's. And he said to them, Render therefore to Cesar the things which are Cesar's, and to God the things which are God's. And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marveled at his answer, and held their peace.