38 Bible Verses about Pessimism

Then he said, "This is what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and I'll store all my grain and goods in them. Then I'll say to myself, "You've stored up plenty of good things for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself."' But God told him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you. Now who will get the things you've accumulated?'

For we are aliens and vagrants in your presence, as were all of our ancestors. Our days on the earth pass away like shadows, and we have no hope.

My days pass as swiftly as a hand-loom; they come to their conclusion without hope.

"There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing. Even if its roots have grown ancient in the earth, and its stump begins to rot in the ground, the presence of water will make it to bud so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant.read more.
"But when a person dies and wastes away, when a person breathes his last, where will he be? As water disappears from the sea, or water evaporates from a river, so also a person lies down and does not get up; they won't awaken until the heavens are no more, nor will they arise from their sleep."

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness, if I call out to the Pit, "You're my father!' or say to the worm, "My mother!' or "My sister!' where would my hope be? "And speaking of my hope, who would notice it?read more.
Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors of the afterlife? Will we descend together into the dust?"

"Do I have the strength to wait? And why should I be patient?

I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.

He broke my teeth on gravel, covering me with dust. You have removed peace from my life; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My strength is gone as is my hope in the LORD."

"These bones represent the entire house of Israel," the LORD explained to me. "Look how they keep saying, "Our bones are dried up, and our future is lost. We've been completely eliminated!'

"Mountains fall and crumble; rocks are dislodged from their places. Water wears away stones; floods wash away topsoil from the land but you destroy the hope of human beings just like that!

If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me, and make my problems the basis of your case against me, then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong, and trapped me with his net." "Although I cried out "Violence!' I received no answer; I cried for help, but there was no justice.read more.
He blocked my path, so I cannot pass; and he turned out the lights on my pathways. "He has stripped me of my honor; he has stolen the crown off my head! He is breaking me down on every side, and now it's too late for me; he has uprooted my hopes like a tree. His anger burns against me; he regards me as his adversary. His troops march in a column against me, erecting their siege ramps against me; they surround my tent." "My brothers are alienated from me; my acquaintances are estranged;

At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

Such are the paths of everyone who forgets God the hope of the godless will be destroyed: his confidence is shattered; his trust is in a spider's web. He leans against his house, but it won't stand; he grabs hold of it firmly, but it doesn't last.

What the wicked fears will come about, but the longing of the righteous will be granted.

When a wicked person dies, his hope vanishes; and what he expected from his scheming comes to nothing.

Don't be anxious about those who practice evil, and don't be envious of the wicked. For the wicked man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.

The spirits of the Egyptians within them will be drained of courage, and I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult idols and spirits of the dead, and mediums and spiritists.

"On that day," declares the LORD, "the courage of the king and the leaders will fail. The priests will be appalled and the prophets astounded."

"Everyone who keeps on hearing these messages of mine and never puts them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and battered that house, and it collapsed and its collapse was total."

But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope.

"We can't attack those people," the men who were with him said, "because they're too strong compared to us." So they put out this false report to the Israelis about the land that they had explored: "The land that we've explored is one that devours its inhabitants. All the people whom we observed were giants. We also saw the Nephilim, the descendants of Anak. Compared to the Nephilim, as we see things, we're like grasshoppers, and that's their opinion of us!"

Where can we go? Our brothers discouraged us when they said that the people are bigger and taller than we are. Their cities are tall and fortified to the sky, and we also saw the Anakim there.'

Starting today I will begin to instill fear and terror of you on the part of every nation under heaven who hears reports about you. They'll tremble in anguish before you.'"

"I'm really convinced that the LORD has given you the land," she said, "because we're overwhelmed with fear of you. All the other inhabitants of the land are demoralized at your presence,

I left here full, but the LORD brought me back empty. So why call me "Naomi'? After all, the LORD is against me, and the Almighty has broken me."

When Saul and all the Israelis heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very frightened.

When the men of Israel saw that they were in distress (for the people were in difficult circumstances), the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in crags, in tombs, and in pits. Hebrews went across the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, but Saul remained in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.

Elijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" "I've been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies," he replied. "The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I that's right, just me! am the only one left. Now they're seeking my life, to get rid of me!"

If we tell ourselves, "Let's remain in the city,' we'll die there since there's famine in the city. But if we sit here, we'll die, too. So let's go over to the Arameans! If they spare our lives, we'll live, and if they kill us"we're dying anyway!"

When it was reported to the house of David, "Aram has joined forces with Ephraim!" the heart of the people of Ahaz trembled like forest trees in a windstorm.

Ashkelon will see it happen and will be terrified; Gaza will tremble greatly. Ekron will be ashamed of her expectations, Gaza's king will perish, and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.

Thomas, one of the Twelve (called the Twin), wasn't with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples kept telling him, "We've seen the Lord!" But he told them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger into them, and put my hand into his side, I'll never believe!"

For a number of days neither the sun nor the stars were to be seen, and the storm continued to rage until at last all hope of our being saved vanished.

Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for once again I will praise him, since his presence saves me.

Now since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with this Scripture: "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak. We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to God together with you. All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.read more.
That's why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day.

Don't be afraid, because I'm with you; don't be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I'm truly helping you. I'm surely upholding you with my victorious right hand."

This is what comes to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's gracious love we are not consumed, since his compassions never end. They are new every morning great is your faithfulness!read more.
"The LORD is all I have," says my soul, "Therefore I will trust in him."

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us. In every way we're troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.