26 Bible Verses about Suffering, Hardship

ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always.

the poor you have always with you, and you may relieve them whenever you please: but me you will not always have.

the poor you will always have with you; but me you will not always have.

there having fasted forty days and forty nights, he at length grew hungry.

being forty days tempted by the devil, without eating any thing all that while: but that time expired, he at last was seiz'd with hunger.

for you remember, my brethren, our labour and toil: how we worked day and night, that in preaching the gospel of God, we might not be chargeable to any of you.

hark! what a noise there is of hire, of which you cheated the labourers, who gather'd in your harvest! the cries of the reapers have reach'd even the Lord of the celestial militia.

It was the fourteenth night that we had been driving up and down in the Adriatick sea, when the ship's crew about midnight suspected they were making to land: they threw the line and sounded twenty fathom water: a little further they sounded again, and came to fifteen fathom: then for fear of striking upon the rocks, they dropt four anchors astern, and lay impatient for the day.read more.
but the crew under pretext of dropping their anchors to moor, had hoisted out the boat; designing to make off: upon this Paul said to the centurion and his men, "except the crew stay aboard, you can't be safe:" and immediately the soldiers chopt the cable, and set the boat adrift. while they were waiting for day, Paul advis'd the whole company to take some refreshment: "these fourteen days, said he, you have been very abstemious, and not made a meal: therefore, pray, take something to recruit your strength: and be assur'd every one of you shall be preserv'd." having said this, he took bread, and gave thanks to God, the whole company present: then he broke it and began to eat, at which they all took heart and fell a eating likewise, the whole number then on board being two hundred and seventy six. when they had eat enough, they threw the wheat over board to ease the ship: at day-break they made an unknown land, with a creek, where they resolv'd, if it were possible, to run the ship ashore. accordingly, having heaved in their anchors, they drove with the sea, then loos'd the helm, bois'd the mizen-sail to wind, and made to shore: when falling into the confluence of two currents, they ran the ship a-ground: where the fore-castle stuck fast and would not give, but her stern was shatter'd by the violence of the waves. the soldiers propos'd to dispatch the prisoners, for fear any of them should swim for their lives; but the centurion, who had a mind to save Paul, prevented their design: and order'd all that could swim immediately to get off to shore, and the rest to get upon the planks, or other pieces of the wreck: and by this means it happen'd that they all came safe to land.

but in all things I approve myself as the minister of God, by great constancy in afflictions, in torments, in distresses, from stripes, from imprisonments, from tumults, from labours, from watchings, from penury.

for you are sensible of the beneficence of our Lord Jesus Christ; powerful as he was, for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.

After they had preach'd the gospel in that city, and made many disciples, they retook the road to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, encouraging the disciples, exhorting them to persevere in the faith, representing that it is thro' much tribulation that we must enter into the kingdom of God.

to this very day we suffer both hunger, thirst, and penury: we are buffeted from place to place, as vagabonds: we are fatigu'd by our manual toil: when reviled, we pray: when persecuted, we don't repine: and when we are defamed, we intreat: in a word, we are look'd upon as the dregs and scum of mankind, even to this day.

For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of that insupportable weight of affliction that over-whelm'd me so in Asia that I despaired even of life: nay, I abandon'd my self to death, that I might not rely upon my self for deliverance, but on God who raiseth the dead.

so am I: are they ministers of Christ? is it my vanity? I am more so: in toilsome labours I surpass them, in stripes I am exceedingly beyond them, in prisons I have been oftner, and frequently in the very jaws of death. from the Jews I have five times received forty stripes save one. thrice was I whip'd with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I was shipwreck'd; a night and a day I was floating on the deep:read more.
in my voyages I have been frequently in perils from rivers, in perils from robbers, in perils from my own countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the country, in perils at sea, in perils among false brethren; expos'd to toil, to fatigue, to frequent watchings, to hunger and thirst, to frequent fastings, to cold and penury. besides these troubles from without, that which crouds upon me daily, the care of all the churches. who is afflicted, and I not suffer? who is offended, and I not inflam'd?

it is not my indigence that makes me say this: for I have learn'd, in whatevever state I am, therewith to be content: I know how to be in want, I know how to abound: every where, and in every circumstance, I have been prepar'd for fulness or famine, for plenty or penury: to these things I am equal, thro' Christ who strengthens me.read more.
however, you acted generously in assisting me in my necessity:

bravely endure hardships, like a soldier of Jesus Christ.

for you were passionately affected for those who were in bonds, and were pleas'd at the seizing of your goods, knowing that you have what is more excellent and lasting.

they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandred about in sheepskins, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented: (of whom the world was not worthy) they wandred in desarts, and in mountains, having no retreat but the dens and caves of the earth.

if you are to endure chastisement, God treats you as his children: for where's the son whom his father does not chastise?

thou hast suffer'd, hast patience, for my name's sake thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

nay, I abandon'd my self to death, that I might not rely upon my self for deliverance, but on God who raiseth the dead.

and ye shall be hated by all the world for professing my name: but he that perseveres unto the end, shall escape.

you will be the object of universal hatred upon my account; but he that shall persevere unto the end, shall be saved.

happy is he that can stand the tryal: for when he has undergone the test, he shall receive that crown of life which the Lord has promised to those that love him.

we pronounce those happy, who have so endur'd. you have heard of the constancy of Job, you know with what success he was crown'd by the Lord, who is all mercy and compassion.

but even to the morose. for it is a recommendation to the divine favour, to suffer unjust persecution