57 Bible Verses about Suffering, Hardship

The property of the man of wealth is his strong town: the poor man's need is his destruction.

For there will never be a time when there are no poor in the land; and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land.

Like asses in the waste land they go out to their work, looking for food with care; from the waste land they get bread for their children. They get mixed grain from the field, and they take away the late fruit from the vines of those who have wealth. They take their rest at night without clothing, and have no cover in the cold.read more.
They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and get into the cracks of the rock for cover. The child without a father is forced from its mother's breast, and they take the young children of the poor for debt. Others go about without clothing, and though they have no food, they get in the grain from the fields. Between the lines of olive-trees they make oil; though they have no drink, they are crushing out the grapes.

For the poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever.

The poor you have ever with you, and whenever you have the desire you may do them good: but me you have not for ever.

The poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever.

They were wandering in the waste places; they saw no way to a resting-place. Their souls became feeble for need of food and drink.

And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end. Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it.read more.
And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt. And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.

Then Moses took Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the waste land of Shur; and for three days they were in the waste land where there was no water. And when they came to Marah, the water was no good for drinking, for the waters of Marah were bitter, which is why it was named Marah. And the people, crying out against Moses, said, What are we to have for drink?

And all the children of Israel were crying out against Moses and Aaron in the waste land: And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt, where we were seated by the flesh-pots and had bread enough for our needs; for you have taken us out to this waste of sand, to put all this people to death through need of food.

And the children of Israel went on from the waste land of Sin, by stages as the Lord gave them orders, and put up their tents in Rephidim: and there was no drinking-water for the people. So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking. And Moses said, Why are you angry with me? and why do you put God to the test? And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water?

And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food? Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste: But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes.

Now after a time the stream became dry, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Up! go now to Zarephath, in Zidon, and make your living-place there; I have given orders to a widow woman there to see that you have food.read more.
So he got up and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the door of the town, he saw a widow woman getting sticks together; and crying out to her he said, Will you give me a little water in a vessel for my drink? And when she was going to get it, he said to her, And get me with it a small bit of bread. Then she said, By the life of the Lord your God, I have nothing but a little meal in my store, and a drop of oil in the bottle; and now I am getting two sticks together so that I may go in and make it ready for me and my son, so that we may have a meal before our death.

Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their countrymen the Jews. For there were some who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are a great number: let us get grain, so that we may have food for our needs. And there were some who said, We are giving our fields and our vine-gardens and our houses for debt: let us get grain because we are in need.read more.
And there were others who said, We have given up our fields and our vine-gardens to get money for the king's taxes. But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children: and now we are giving our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants, and some of our daughters are servants even now: and we have no power to put a stop to it; for other men have our fields and our vine-gardens.

And after going without food for forty days and forty nights, he was in need of it.

For forty days, being tested by the Evil One. And he had no food in those days; and when they came to an end, he was in need of food.

And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life. Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food; With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.

These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your goats have had young without loss, not one of your he-goats have I taken for food. Anything which was wounded by beasts I did not take to you, but myself made up for the loss of it; you made me responsible for whatever was taken by thieves, by day or by night. This was my condition, wasted by heat in the day and by the bitter cold at night; and sleep went from my eyes.read more.
These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would have sent me away with nothing in my hands. But God has seen my troubles and the work of my hands, and this night he kept you back.

And they sent for him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, Your father put a hard yoke on us: if you will make the conditions under which your father kept us down less cruel, and the weight of the yoke he put on us less hard, then we will be your servants.

For you have the memory, my brothers, of our trouble and care; how, working night and day, so that we might not be a trouble to any of you, we gave you the good news of God.

Because the hand of the cruel is hard on them, men are making sounds of grief; they are crying out for help because of the arm of the strong.

So they put overseers of forced work over them, in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work. And they made store-towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.

But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God. Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words.

Now a certain woman, the wife of one of the sons of the prophets, came crying to Elisha and said, Your servant my husband is dead; and to your knowledge he was a worshipper of the Lord; but now, the creditor has come to take my two children as servants in payment of his debt.

Because of the crushing of the poor and the weeping of those in need, now will I come to his help, says the Lord; I will give him the salvation which he is desiring.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body. My life goes on in sorrow, and my years in weeping; my strength is almost gone because of my sin, and my bones are wasted away. Because of all those who are against me, I have become a word of shame to my neighbours; a cause of shaking the head and a fear to my friends: those who saw me in the street went in flight from me.read more.
I have gone from men's minds and memory like a dead man; I am like a broken vessel. False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

For this is what the Lord of armies has said: Let trees be cut down and an earthwork be placed against Jerusalem: sorrow on the false town! inside her there is nothing but cruel ways.

Give out the news in the great houses of Assyria and in the land of Egypt, and say, Come together on the mountains of Samaria, and see what great outcries are there, and what cruel acts are done in it.

See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies.

So we went on with the work: and half of them had spears in their hands from the dawn of the morning till the stars were seen. And at the same time I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant come inside Jerusalem for the night, so that at night they may keep watch for us, and go on working by day. So not one of us, I or my brothers or my servants or the watchmen who were with me, took off his clothing, everyone went armed to the water.

And Moses gave his father-in-law an account of all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians because of Israel, and of all the troubles which had come on them by the way, and how the Lord had given them salvation.

And to Abiathar the priest the king said, Go to Anathoth, to your fields; for death would be your right reward; but I will not put you to death now, because you took up the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and you were with him in all his troubles.

And three of the thirty went down to David, to the rock, into the strong place of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim. At that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem. And David, moved by a strong desire, said, If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem by the doorway into the town!read more.
So the three, forcing a way through the Philistine army, got water from the water-hole of Beth-lehem, by the doorway into the town, and took it back to David; but David would not take it, but made an offering of it, draining it out to the Lord, Saying, By my God, far be it from me to do this! How may I take as drink the life-blood of these men who have put their lives in danger? so he did not take it. These things did the three great men of war.

But when the fourteenth day came, while we were going here and there in the Adriatic sea, about the middle of the night the sailors had an idea that they were getting near land; And they let down the lead, and saw that the sea was a hundred and twenty feet deep; and after a little time they did it again and it was ninety feet. Then, fearing that by chance we might come on to the rocks, they let down four hooks from the back of the ship, and made prayers for the coming of day.read more.
Then the sailors made attempts secretly to get away from the ship, letting down a boat as if they were about to put down hooks from the front of the ship; But Paul said to the captain and his men, If you do not keep these men in the ship, you will not be safe. Then the armed men, cutting the cords of the boat, let her go. And when dawn was near, Paul gave them all orders to take food, saying, This is the fourteenth day you have been waiting and taking no food. So I make request to you to take food; for this is for your salvation: not a hair from the head of any of you will come to destruction. And when he had said this and had taken bread, he gave praise to God before them all, and took a meal of the broken bread. Then they all took heart and did the same. And we were, in the ship, two hundred and seventy-six persons. And when they had had enough food, they made the weight of the ship less, turning the grain out into the sea. And when it was day, they had no knowledge of the land, but they saw an inlet of the sea with a floor of sand, and they had the idea of driving the ship up on to it if possible. So cutting away the hooks, and letting them go into the sea, and freeing the cords of the guiding-blades, and lifting up the sail to the wind, they went in the direction of the inlet. And coming to a point between two seas, they got the ship to land; and the front part was fixed in the sand and not able to be moved, but the back part was broken by the force of the waves. Then the armed men were for putting the prisoners to death, so that no one would get away by swimming. But the captain, desiring to keep Paul safe, kept them from their purpose, and gave orders that those who had knowledge of swimming were to go off the ship and get first to land: And the rest, some on boards and some on things from the ship. And so it came about that they all got safe to land.

Because you did not give honour to the Lord your God, worshipping him gladly, with joy in your hearts on account of all your wealth of good things; For this cause you will become servants to those whom the Lord your God will send against you, without food and drink and clothing, and in need of all things: and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck till he has put an end to you.

Who was your guide through that great and cruel waste, where there were poison-snakes and scorpions and a dry land without water; who made water come out of the hard rock for you;

And the Egyptians were cruel to us, crushing us under a hard yoke: And our cry went up to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord's ear was open to the voice of our cry, and his eyes took note of our grief and the crushing weight of our work:

Lord, give thought to David, and to all his troubles;

But in everything making it clear that we are the servants of God, in quiet strength, in troubles, in need, in sorrow, In blows, in prisons, in attacks, in hard work, in watchings, in going without food;

For you see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he had wealth, he became poor on your account, so that through his need you might have wealth.

And having made a number of disciples through the preaching of the good news in that town, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.

Even to this hour we are without food, drink, and clothing, we are given blows and have no certain resting-place; And with our hands we do the hardest work: when they give us curses we give blessings, when we undergo punishment we take it quietly; When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.

For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life: Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking foolishly) I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death. Five times the Jews gave me forty blows but one. Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times the ship I was in came to destruction at sea, a night and a day I have been in the water;read more.
In frequent travels, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from outlaws, in dangers from my countrymen, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the town, in dangers in the waste land, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers; In hard work and weariness, in frequent watchings, going without food and drink, cold and in need of clothing. In addition to all the other things, there is that which comes on me every day, the care of all the churches. Who is feeble and I am not feeble? who is in danger of falling, and I am not angry?

But I will not say anything about my needs, for I am able, wherever I am, to be dependent on myself. It is the same to me if I am looked down on or honoured; everywhere and in all things I have the secret of how to be full and how to go without food; how to have wealth and how to be in need. I am able to do all things through him who gives me strength.read more.
But you did well to have care for me in my need.

Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus.

For you had pity on those who were in prison, and had joy in the loss of your property, in the knowledge that you still had a better property and one which you would keep for ever.

They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked, Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

It is for your training that you undergo these things; God is acting to you as a father does to his sons; for what son does not have punishment from his father?

And you have the power of waiting, and have undergone trouble because of my name, without weariness.

Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation.

And you will be hated by all men, because of my name; but he who goes through to the end will have salvation.

There is a blessing on the man who undergoes testing; because, if he has God's approval, he will be given the crown of life, which the Lord has said he will give to those who have love for him.

We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.

For it is a sign of grace if a man, desiring to do right in the eyes of God, undergoes pain as punishment for something which he has not done.