21 Bible Verses about Sadness

Sorrow is better than laughter, because the heart is made better through trouble.

It came about in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, during the month of Nissan, the king was about to drink some wine that I was preparing for him. Now I had never looked troubled in his presence. The king asked me, "Why do you look so troubled, since you're not ill? This cannot be anything else but troubles of the heart." Then I was filled with fear. I replied to the king, "May the king live forever. Why shouldn't I be troubled, since the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located lies waste, with its gates burned by fire?"

When Joseph came to see them in the morning, he noticed how downcast they looked! They were both very sad. So he asked Pharaoh's officers, who were with him in prison in his master's house, "Why are you so sad today?"

Ahab went back to his palace, sullen and in a foul mood, because Naboth the Jezreelite had turned down Ahab's offer by saying "I will not transfer my ancestors' inheritance to you!" He laid down on his bed, curled up with his face to the wall, and refused to eat.

Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me." But when the young man heard this statement he went away sad, because he had many possessions.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. Then he told him, "You're missing one thing. Go and sell everything you own, give the money to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me." Shocked at this statement, the man went away sad, because he had many possessions.

When Jesus heard this, he told him, "You still need to do one thing. Sell everything you have and give the money to the destitute, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me." But when the official heard this he became sad, because he was very rich.

While they were eating, he said, "I tell all of you with certainty, one of you is going to betray me." Feeling deeply distressed, each one began to ask him, "Surely I am not the one, Lord?"

He asked them, "What are you discussing with each other as you're walking along?" They stood still and looked gloomy.

I cannot carry this whole nation! The burden is too heavy for me! If this is how you treat me, please kill me right now, if I've found favor in your eyes, because I don't want to keep staring at all of this misery!"

"Lord GOD," Joshua asked, "Why have you brought this people across the Jordan River? To hand us over to the Amorites so we'll be destroyed? Wouldn't it have been better for us to be content to settle on the other side of the Jordan?

Elijah was terrified, so he got up and ran for his life to Beer-sheba, which is part of Judah, and left his servant there and ran for a day's journey deep into the wilderness. He found a juniper tree, sat down under it, and prayed that he could die. He asked God, "Enough! LORD! Take my life, because I'm not better than my ancestors!"

My tears have been my food day and night, while people keep asking me all day long, "Where is your God?" These things I will recall as I pour out my troubles within me: I used to go with the crowd in a procession to the house of God, accompanied with shouts of joy and thanksgiving.

How terrible for me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of strife and contention for the whole land! I've neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

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. My God, my soul feels depressed within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan, from the heights of Hermon, even from the foothills.

A person's anxiety weighs down his heart, but an appropriate word is encouraging.

Bright eyes encourage the heart; good news nourishes the body.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit drains one's strength.

Give liquor to someone who is perishing, and wine to someone who is deeply depressed. Let him drink, forget his poverty, and remember his troubles no more.

Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I can be encouraged when I learn of your condition.