38 Bible Verses about Pessimism

Then he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself, "You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!"' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and they come to an end without hope.

"But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Although its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump begins to die in the soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant.read more.
But man dies and is powerless; he expires -- and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep.

If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, If I cry to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My Mother,' or 'My sister,' where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it?read more.
Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?"

What is my strength, that I should wait? and what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.

(Vav) He ground my teeth in gravel; he trampled me in the dust. I am deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."

Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, 'Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.'

But as a mountain falls away and crumbles, and as a rock will be removed from its place, as water wears away stones, and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope.

If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and plead my disgrace against me, know then that God has wronged me and encircled me with his net. "If I cry out, 'Violence!' I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice.read more.
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths. He has stripped me of my honor and has taken the crown off my head. He tears me down on every side until I perish; he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree. Thus his anger burns against me, and he considers me among his enemies. His troops advance together; they throw up a siege ramp against me, and they camp around my tent. "He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me.

that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless perishes, whose trust is in something futile, whose security is a spider's web. He leans against his house but it does not hold up, he takes hold of it but it does not stand.

What the wicked fears will come on him; what the righteous desire will be granted.

When a wicked person dies, his expectation perishes, and the hope of his strength perishes.

Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people, for the evil person has no future, and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.

The Egyptians will panic, and I will confuse their strategy. They will seek guidance from the idols and from the spirits of the dead, from the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, and from the magicians.

"When this happens," says the Lord, "the king and his officials will lose their courage. The priests will be struck with horror, and the prophets will be speechless in astonishment."

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!"

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

But the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!" Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, "The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature. We even saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves and to them."

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there."

This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach."

She said to the men, "I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you.

I left here full, but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. Why do you call me 'Naomi,' seeing that the Lord has opposed me, and the Sovereign One has caused me to suffer?"

When Saul and all the Israelites heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.

The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds, and cisterns. Some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan River to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul stayed at Gilgal; the entire army that was with him was terrified.

He went into a cave there and spent the night. All of a sudden the Lord spoke to him, "Why are you here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life."

If we go into the city, we'll die of starvation, and if we stay here we'll die! So come on, let's defect to the Syrian camp! If they spare us, we'll live; if they kill us -- well, we were going to die anyway."

It was reported to the family of David, "Syria has allied with Ephraim." They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!"

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.

Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.

But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, "I believed; therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak. We do so because we know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence. For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.read more.
Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you! Don't be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you -- yes, I help you -- yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!

But this I call to mind; therefore I have hope: (Khet) The Lord's loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!read more.
"My portion is the Lord," I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,